    VOLUME   XX   >T                             OCTOBER   15,.   1952  -  GRAND   RAPIDS,   MICHIGAN                  NUMBER   2

                                                                       da&t houden, dat  Paulus het beeld `van  steryen be-
      M-EDITATLON'                                                     zigt in ,oneigelijken zin. Hij. gebruikt eigenlijk beeld-
                                                                       spraak. En het is ook niet de ekrste maal, dat hij dit
                                                                       beeld gebruikt. In II Corinthe, 5 :14 en 15 zegt hij :
           Het  Lwen D:t  Hemel&utgers                                 "Want. de liefde  van Christus dringt ons, als die dit
                                                                       oordeelen, dat indien &%n voor allen gestorven is, zij
             "Want  g'j zijt gestorven, en Uw  Ieven is met            dan  allen gestorven zijn." En in II Tim.  2:ll lezen
           Christus verborgen in  God."dColl.   `3:3                   we: "Dit is een getrouw woord: want indien wij met
     Onze tekst is een  reden voor datgene  wat-  voor;                Hem gestorven zijn, zoo zullen wij ook met Hem le-
  afgaat, namelijk, het tweede vers. Daar had Paulus. ven." Weer hetzelfde beeld. En om niet meer te
-  de.  gbmeente  van Collosse vermaand, zeggende:  "B&                noemen,  willeri we U ook nag. wijzen op Filipp. 3 :lO,
 ,denkt  de dingen die boven zijn, niet die op de aarde                het tweede gedeelte,  waar Paulus zegt: "opdat ik Hem
  zijn." En-ons tekstvers geeft de reden atin voor die kenne, en de kracht Zijner opstanding-  en de gemeen-
  vermaning. Van  nature  bedenk:en  we de  dingen die                 schap Zijns lijdens, Zijnen .dood  gelijkvormig worden-
  op de aarde zijn: Dan zijn die dingen ons leven. Een                 de." .In dezen  la+sten tekst  schemert  .er al iets als
 natuurlijk mensch heeft niets ' anders. Hun deel is een verklaring'van dit beeld. ,Om nu uit te vinden, wat
 beneden.  Die aardsche dingen vervullen hen van den                   dc  bedoeling  van Paulus is in het gebruiken van dit
 morgen tot den avond, en des naclits droomen ze er                    vreemde beeld, moeten we eerst vragen: wat is eigen-
 van. Die hingen vervullen hen van de wieg tot den                     lijk de dood? Wel, het antwoord  op die vraag spreekt
 laatsten snik. Maar zoo is het niet mlet den Christen.                van zeer vreeselijke dingen. Dood te zijn wil zeggen,
 Van helm zegt immers Paulus in het volgende vers, dat                 dat men in rebellie, in opstand verkeert tegen God.
  Chrisfus hun leven is. Hij zegt dat ook schoon in der                Dood is rebellie,  tegenstand. En nu gebruikt Pauius
 Filippenzen brief, waar hij zegt: "Want het leven is                  deze beeldspraak one aan te toonen hde de Christen.
 mij Christus, en.het  sterven is mij gewin." De Chris-                tegendver de a+rde, de zonde en de vloekende wet van
 tenen zijn van God geleerd en zij-  welten het en zij                 God staat.          Rome&en   6:2 zal ons op weg  helpen.
 zingen het : `t Qog omhoog en `t hart naarboven : hier                Daar wordt dit beeld verklaard. Daar staat: "Dat
 beneden is het niet ! Dat zegt PauluS ook in het twee-                zij  verre.       Wij die der  zonde  gestorven zijn, hok
de vers: Bedenkt de dingen die boven zijn, &et- die op                 zullen `we nog in dlezelve leven?" c En Rom. 7-4 helpt
 de aarde zijn. En mijn tekst is de  reden  vo& die                    ons nog verder op weg tot een iuivere verklaring van
 vermatiing en aansporing: Want gij zijt gestorven, en                 deze  bkel.dspraak. Daar  staat: "Zoo dan, mijne  broe-'
 uw leven is tiet Christus verborgen in <God.                          ders, gij zijt ook der wet gedood door het lichaam van
                                                                       Christus, ,opdat  gij zoudt worden  eens anderen, natie-
                         *  8 *  *                                     lijk desgenen die van ,de dooden opgewekt is, opdat
                                                                       wij  ,Gode vruchten  ,dragen zouden." De dood staat
     W&t., gij zijt gestorven!  _,Dat  klinkt ons vreemd               tusschen den Christen en de aarde, de zonde en de
 aan. Wat kan  d&  tdch beduiden? Hoe kan  Paulus                      vloekendle  en  veroordeelende_wet.  Christen is  aan de
 dat van levende menschen -zeggen-?  Zoo spreken we                    aarde gestorven.  10, hij  -1eeft   we1  h&r op aarde, en
 van menschen die het tijd&jke met het' eeutiige  ver-                 hij -is gewillig om zijn span des Ievens,' dat God he&
 wisseld hebbeq. en nu verder spoedig `begraven wo+den:                beschikt, hier dp aarde te leGen. Maar dat aardsche
 0~ onze tekst te  verstiaan,  moeten. we voor de  aan-                leven is niet--zijn eigenlijke, zijxi wezenlijke, zijn harte-
                                                                                                                  -


 2         6                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 leven. De bron van. .zijn eigenlijke' harte-levely`,li@           &b in mijn hart een gruwel vail die zonde ! En Chris-
 elclers. Van dit aacdsche leven zingt hij: "Wieq h%               teii week, d& de wet hem niet meer vervloekt. Al het
 ik nevens  U.  omhobg?   Wa$ zou mijn hart,  wat  zou             vloeken heeft uit, sindsclien  Jezus al die vloek gedra-
 mijn oog, op aarde nevens U  t6ch  lusten?' Niets  his            gen heeft aan het vloekhotit van Golgotha. Er is Ieven
 er, waar ik in kan  rusten."  `De Christen is gelijk              gekomen voor de dooden.
een  pelgrim  die  naa?  zijn.'  vaierland=  reist. Hij heeft
 we1 ,een.staf &~-x$i lQ$e&%& die zijn slechts.middel
 om naar zijn iiaclerl&$  te ie&en. Ei`zoo is @t qet
 Ons die  w$ergeboren. en  bekqererd  zijn. Wij  bezitteti
 de dingen van de aard& als i;i'ieti bezittend(i:  "-Maa< in
                                           ._.  ..E.`.&..   ;y7       En nu `zullen ,we zien het leven Tan-Gods volk met
 ons  dieps.te  harf hebben we de begeerte van Paulus              clen  Christus.  Christus is  qns  IevFn. iiet ge,  Ghris-
 o!n ontbonden en `met Christus te zijn, die ons leven is. ,tus kon van  i den dood niet gehouden  worden.  Hij
                         .    .                                    stond op ten derde dage tot een heerlijk, lieflijk, glo-
                                                                   rieus en eeuwig leven. Hoe is dat zoo geschied?
                        ***.*.                      `.             We zagen Heti op lGo&en Vrijdag weggaan, eti, onze
                                                                   oogen  konden  Hem niet volgen. Hij  gin-g' we,g naar
      En zoo is het ook tegenover de zonde. Wij zijn der. den. tieuwigen  dood. Evenwel, Jezus' heengaan naar
 zonde ges+orven. Tusschen ons en de zonde is de dood.             den eeuwigen dood is radikaal  anders dan het heen-
 We haten de zonde ; we schuwen de zonde als de pest.              gaan in groote smarten van den verworpen zondaar.
 En.dat heeft Paulus op het oog. Het aardsche leven                Zijn eeuyvilgen dood was het volmaakte atitwoord der
 is immers een zondig leven? `Ge kuht niets doen, niets            liefde en der gehoorzaamheid atin den Vader. Er waren
* genieten hier op aarde, of de zonde kleefk er aan. En            de eischen die Gods heiligheid en gerechtigheid en
 zoo wordt elke `Christen o zoo moede van dit a&dsche              waarheid deden. En Hij heeft die eischen vervuld.
 leven, en  v&rlangt naar het leven der  qolmaaktheid              Jezus betaalde niet  alleen  voor de zonde. Dat  doen
 da.ar boven bij God. Niet alsof we  als de monniken               immers de .duivelen en de goddelooze verworpenen ook.
 zduden doen, en de aarde en het aardsehe leven ont-               To't in alle eeuwigheid zullen ze  betalen. Evenwel  -
 vlieden.  10 neen.  We beseffen, dat  :God ons hier op            wolfden  zij  fiooit verzoend. Hoe zit dat? En dan is
 aarcle wil hebben voor tijd en wijle.  Dat  dit Z.ijn             dit het antwoord: Jezus  betaaIde  uit de liefde der
 raad moet dietien, en moet leiden tot de verheerlijking -gehoor.zaamheid.   .Gewilliglijk, en gedreven door  Gocl-
 van Zijn naam. En ,daarom zijn we dan ook geyillig delijke liefde tot Zijn ,God en Zijn Vader, ging Jezus
 om Zijn raad te dienen  en ons aardsche leven te leven.           naar de eeuwigc verdoemenis, en bet,aalde  en betaalcle
 Maar ons eigenlijke leven is het niet.. En dat heeft              als een vreeselijke arbeid der liefde tdt de laatste pen-
 Paulus op het oog. En bedoelt hij te  zeggen:: Zoekt              ning betaald was. Hij  vernwolg  den dood tot over-'
 den hemel,  want ge zijt de: aarde en der zonde gestor-           winning.    En God heeft die prijs  aangenomen. En  :
 ven. En, ten derde, dit  bee!d  is  oqk van toepassing            het bewijs  .dat  (God die prijs van  Jeztis   aangeliomen
 op Christen ten overstaan van de wet IGods. Leest  het            heeft is de verrijzenis, de opstanding van Jezui Chris-
 maar in Rom.  `7:4. Daar zeide  Paulus immers:  `$Gij             tus uit de dooden. En in die opstanding  ontving Je-
 zijt ook der wet gedood door het l?ichaam van. Chris-             zus ook loon. En Zijn arbeidsloon was het eeuwige,
 tus . . ." De vreeselijke wet die de aardsche, natuur-            geestelijke, hemelsche leven van Gods trouwverboncl.
 Ii jke, goddelooze menschen verdoemt en vervloekt,                Daar werd Hij mee gekroofid  toen Hij in  J6zefs hof'
heeft geen vat meer op den Christen. Want -Jezus is                oljstond.  Daar hebben `de profeten van gezongen ?n
`  der wet-gestorven. Jezus  droeg  den vloek  d&s wet,            h&t Oude `Testament, en Petrus haart. 66n hunner aan
 een vloek geworden  zijnde vqo~! ons. En zoo is" er dok           op den Pinksterdag. Leest het tiaar in Handelingen
de dood tusschen ons en die vervloekende wet. Paulus               2 : "Gij maakt .eerlang  mij `t lelv&spad bekendj:tiaar-
 zegt : gij zijt ,der wet gestorven -.door  het lichaam van        van, in druk, `t vooruitzicht mij verheugde ; Uw aange-.
 Jezus. De wet &is&e in haar vloeken alles van Chris-              zicht, in mgunst  tot mij gewend, schenkt mij in .`t kort
 tus, en zij is uitgevloekt. Z,e kan `Gods volk niet meer verzadiging van vretigde;  de lieflijkheen van `t. zalig
 raken. Wij zijn der wet gestorven. En zoo kan de hemelleven zal eeuwiglijk Uw rechterhand mij geyen."
 aardk nog  we1 mijn zondige vleesch bekoren,  n%aar               En let er tech op, dat de Heilige ,Geest in Handelingen
 mijn harte-leven, mijn diepste bestaan niet. En-wat               -2 dit lied toep&t op. de- opstandihg van Christus uit
 de zonde aarigaat, is dit bet lieflijk Eirangelie,  dat de        de dooden..  Ge verstaat dus: Jezus heeft van ,Gqd als
 zonde geen rechten meer heeft over mij. We zijn der               loon. een eeuwi,g glorieus  en hemelsch leven ontvangen.
 zonde fgestoryen.  En in principieelen  zin,"heeft de.zon-        Evenwel, Jezus ontving dit wondere hemelleven` niet
 de ook geen'macht.meer-in den Christen, want in den               alleeh  voor Zichzelf.  10  neen, Hij  ontying het als cle
 nieuwen  menach   baat  hij de  xonde, en zingt hij: `k ,gro&e Substituut, Vertegenwobrdiger, Hoofd en Borg.


                                            TE-Ih      STANDARD                  BEAR%B

                                                                                                                                        i?




  van Gods uitverkoren volk. Zijn leven is hun leven.             ergens in :Gods Woord, dat zelfs de hemel  niet zuiver
   Hij verdiende het en ontving-het voor hen. Zoo kupt            is in Zijne -oogen, &twelk ze&er ziet op het feit, dat
   ge eenigzins verstaan wat Paulus in het'verband k&t:           ook in: deli hemel een breuk geslagen is naar Gods raad
  `Christus die ons leven is. Eri dat dit letterlijk.zoo is,      door de duivelen, en ,dat daarom Ales vernieuwd moet
   is gebleken op den Pinksberdag. Toen kwam de leven-            worden. En tot die beloofde vernieuwing aller ding-
   de Christus'door  Zijn Geest om.in Zijn kerk te leven en       en is Jezus  Christus en Zijn  glorieus  leven nog niet
  te  wonen, om haar nooit meer te verlaten. En als               ten voile geopenbaard, ook niet in .den hemel der heme-
   Gods vblk door `dien Geest opgezocht  wordt, dan komt          len.  Doch in den dag van  Christus zal Hij gezien
  het leven van Jezus Christus in hen. Zoo kon Paulus             worden  temidden van een vernieuwde schepping, als
   tot tweemaal toe `zeggen: Weet  gk_`niet,  dat Jezus           ,God @es zal zijn en .in dlen. En in dien mdoorluchten
   Christus in  u&den woont?  Nu.  din, dat leven met             d& Mullen we Jezus Christus zien gelijk nooit te voren;
   Christus is het geestelijke  -lev& dat het deel is of          als Zijne  heerlijkheid   zal schitteren in Zijn' Bruid
  word t van alle pitverkorenen.           Door  de6 Heiligen     en in een nieuwen  hemel  en in eene nieuwe aarde
  (Geest  van den verhoogden (Christus~  wordt de uitver-         waarin  gerechtigheid  eeuwiglijk  wonen zal. En wat
  koren, doode,  in zichzelf doemwaardige zondaar het             de kerk aangaat, ook haar leven .is xerborgen hier op
  leven  van den verheerlijken  Christus geschonken.              aarde. Zij heefe het leven des IGeestes  in Jezus Chris-
  Dat is de wedergeboorte. En als door de bewerking               tus, doch het is met dien Christus verborgen in God.
  van dienzelfden .Geest en het Woord van -God die zon-           Zij heeft er bovendien slechts een zeer klein beginsel
 : daar bewust wor'dt  van dat-leven,  dan.spreken  we van        van. Het is  verbortien  ,onder  den aardschen sluier.
  d<e. bekeeriqg. Dan beleeft hij .het leven van, den;ver-        En het is verborgen onder veel zon,de en ongerechtig-
  hoogden  Christus. En dat  `leGen is het  recht,  pm%e          heid' die haar nu nog ontsieren. Doch in den dag van
  leven en de macht om te leven voor Gods aangezicht,             Christus zal het leven des (Geestes in Jezus Christus
  eeuwiglijk. Hier op. aarde in een klein beginsel; en            geopenbaard  worden,  en dan zal #God de lieflijkheid
  straks-in   volniaaktheid.                                      vaii Zijn Zoon en van de Bruid- toonen gelijk nooit te
                                                                  voren. We  zingen van de duif in `t zilverwit en `t
                            *  A  .a  *                           goud dat op haar vedereti zit. $0~ die zaligheid wach-
                                                                  ten we met verlangende harten.
          Dat  geest,elijke  leven waa'rvan we gesprokei-`heb-                                                             G. Vos..
  ben is verborgen. En de tekst zegt, dat dit leven met
  Christus verboflgen is. Wat mag dat beduiden? Wel,
 Christus is verborgen. Niemand ziet Hem. Het is--                                           -::::
  waar, dat Hij eenigzins gezien wordt in de hemelen,
  doch ook daar is Zijn leven nog grootendeels  verbor-
  gen. Toen Hij opstond en na veertig dagen naar den
  hemel ging, toen is Hij alle hemelen doorgegaan, en                                   Praise the Lord, for He is good,
  heeft [God Hem -opgenomen en in Zijn boezem doen                                        For His .mercies ever sure
  schuilen,  en grootendeels is Hij ook nog ver,borgen  in                              From eternity have stood,
.m-  den  hemel.  De volkomen openbaring  wacht tot den                                   To eternity endure ;
  doorhichten  dag van J.ezus Christus, dat is, den jong-                              - Let His ransomed people raise
  tit,en  ldag.  ?k weet wel, dat veel van Gods  kinderen                               Songs to their Redeemer's praise.
  hier niet  goed onderscheiden. Er zijn van  dat  volk
  die vreemd opzien als we leeren,  dsit ook de tegenwoor-                              From captivity released,            *
  dige  heme!  der  -.hemelen  verbranden zal in den dag                                  From the south and from the north,
  der .dagen.,, En tech wordt dit lduidelijk  g,epoeg in ,de                            From the west and &rn the east,
 c-,Heilige Schrift geleerd.      Bij  voorbeeld,   Openbaring                            In His love He brought them forth,
2O:ll:        "En ik zag eenen grooten  wi.tten  troon en                               Ransomed out of every land
  Dengene die daarop zat, van wiens aangezicht de aarde                                 From the adversary's hand.
  en de hemel  wegvlood, en geene -plaats is .voor  die ge-
  vonden." Let  er op, dat niet alleen de van God  ge-                                  -Sons of men, awake to praise              I
  trloekte   aarde wegvlood van voor Gods aangezicht,                                     `God the Lord Who reigns above,
  doch ook de hetiel. En in. Openbaring 20 : 1 lezen we :                               Gracious in `His works and ways,
  "En ik zag eenen nieuwe hemel,.eh  $ene nieuwe aa5                                      Wondrous in redeeming love ;
  de; want de eerste hemel'en  de eer&e aarde w?s'voor-                                 Longing  SoUls He' satisfies,
  .bijgegaan,  en de zee-was niet meer." .Ziet ge, we tezen       -  :.-  I-  .-  -     Hungry heart?
                                                                                               ./, . .     with good,_supplies,


is                                                                                    T H E   $l'ANDA-RD   B E A R E R                                           -
          -                        . .
                                  THESTANDARDBEARER~                                                                                       - ~EDI'P`ORIAliS
                  Semi-monthly, except monthly in July and August
             Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association.
                        Box 124, Station C., Grand Rapids 6, Michigan                                                                  The  IL&se According  to the Confessions
                               EDITOR - Rev: Hernian  Hoeksema
             Con&unications  relative to contents should be addressed                                                                    We now come to the third part of that second para-
             to Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                     graph in our  Bapttsm  F&m.
             Rapids `7, Michigan.
             All matter relative `to subscription should be addressed                                                                    We read there the well-known words: "In like
             to Mr. J.  Bouwmzn,  1350 Giddings Ave.,  s. E., Grand                                                                   manner, when we are baptized iti the name of the Ho-
            Rapid; 6, Michigan. Announcements and Obituaries must                                                                     !v Ghost, the Holy ,Ghpst assures us, by this holy sac-.
            be mailed to the above address and will be published at a
            fee of $1.00 for each notice.                                                                                             rament, that. he will dwel'l in us, and sanctify us to be
            Renewals:- Unless a definite request for discontinuance                                                                   members of Christ, applying unto us, that which we
            is received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the                                                                 have in Christ, namely, the washing away of our sins,
           subscription to continue without the formality  of. a  re-                                                                 and the daily renewing of our lives, till we shall fin-
           `newal  order.                                                                                                             ally be presented without spot or wrinkle among the
                                 ,SuhTcription  ,price:` $4.00 per year                                                               assembly of the elect in life eternal."
           . Entered as Second Class mail at Grand Rapids; Michigan                                                                      Now, unless we want to sail directly in Arminian
                                                                                                                                      waters, this part of our  Bapiism.~Form  teaches  ii1
                                                                                                                                      words that are unmistakeable that the promise  &id the
                                               -:---:--                                                                               whole of-our salvation is absolutely unconditional and
                                                                                                                                      for the elect alone.
                                                                                                                                         Notice, in the first place, that according to the
                                                                                                                                      Baptism Form here we are assured in baptism that the
                                               CO`NTENTS  .                                                                           Holy Ghost will dwell in us.
                                                                                                                                         Heyns, at least, feels a difficulty here. With the
         MEDITATION-                                                                                                                  Liberated he interprets t.he former bwo parts of this
                 Het  Lcveil   Der  He~nelLurgers                   .           .       .         .          .                 25     paragraph of the Baptism Form, those that refer to
                    Rev.   G .               Vos                                                                                      the work of the-Father and to the work of the Son,
         EDITORIALS-                                                                                                                  as meaning an objective bequest.  ~Objectively,  accord-
                 The Promise According to the Confession . . . .                                                              28      ing to him, by a testament it is bequeathed upon all
                    Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                  baptized children that Gocl the Father will establish
      *  THE  TRIPLE   KNOWLEDGE-                                                                                                     His eternal covenant of grace  tiith  t.hem and adopt
                 An      Exposition of the                 Heildelberg Catechism . . .                             `_. 31
                     Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                 them for his children and heirs, and will provide them,
         VAN  BOEKEN-                                                                                                                 with every good thing and avert all evil, and that' God
                 Oud  Testamentische Kanoniek,  door.  Dr.  Anlders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.                                   the Son washes us in His blood and incorporates us
                 _  R e v .   H .   H o e k s e m a                                                                                   into the fellowship, of His death and resurrection, so
         OUR                 DOCTFUNE-                                                                                                that. we are freed from all our sins and  ace&ted,-.
                 God's Providence . . .                       : . . . .                       .-. . . . . 34                          righteous before <God. But he feels that this cannot
                    Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                   be applied to the work pf the Holy Spirit. Here we
                 De  Zalige  Ervaring Van Gods Goedheid  :.  .: . . .  .- 38                                                          "lave to do, not with an objective bequest that is ap-
                    R e v .   G .   V o s                                                                                             plicable- to all the baptized children, but with the sub-
         IN  HIS  -FEAR-.  .                                                                                                          jective application of the blessings o-f salvation to the
                 Looking to the  &ture . . . . . . . . . . . 40
                    Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                        '          .m                                                          elect. And so, in this hart he wants to emphasize the
                                                                                                                                      auxilliary verb WILL. When we read in this part
         FROM   HOLY  WRIT-
                 Exposition of I Peter  1:3 . .  .._._...........................
                                                                                                                               42`    that -the Holy Spirit will dwell in us, this, according
                    Rev. G. C. Lubbers                                                                                                to Heyns, does not mean the same as saying that He
         THE  DAY  OF  SHADOWS--:                                                                                                     clwells in us. The promise here is future and condi-
                 Tamar Defiled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .          44      tional. Whether this promise will also be realized unto
                     Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                us depends on the question whether or not we are wil-
         CONTRIBUTION-                                                                                                                ling to enter into ,God's covenant, .accept  our covenant
                 Biased and  Sidetracked+Y.  A.  V&I  Putfen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46                                   obligations, let the'Holy Spirit dwell in 
                 Doctrinal in. the WFong Sense].                                                                                                                                    us, and app-ro-
                                                                           H. Kortering  , . . , . . . . , , . . . . 47               priate the promise.
                                                                                                                                         But once more, Heyns realizes too th.at this would
                                                                                                                        ._


I


          -                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   ~BEA'RER                                               29
                                        ----_                                                              -
               not solve the difficulty, for after all we can enter into    pensation. of the covenant, but to and in all the elect
               the covenant of ,Gocl and appropriate the promise only       seed only. And there is, and can be, nd condition to
               by faith. Now faith is a gift of.:God,  wrought in-&r        receive the realization of this promise. @or the Holy
               hearts by the Holy Spirit. Hence, faith is before the        Spirit -is -&bsolutely first,. and lie man can fulf~ill any
               acceptance of the promise, and the Holy Spirit is be-        conditions in order to receive the Holy Spirit. When
               fore faith. Before we can believe the.Holy  Spirit must      we read in the .Holy Scriptures, ,Phil. 2 :X2,13  : "Work
               dwell in us. This difficulty Heyns tries to circumvent       out your owii salvation with fear and trembling. For
               by inventing the theory of preparatory grace. Thers          it is God which workeOh  in you both to will and to do
               is a certain covenant common grace, which is common          of his good pleasure," the working out of our salvation
               not to all men, but to all that are baptized, which pla-     is not a condition which we must fulfill in order to have
               ces the baptized children in a &ate in which they can        the Holy Spirit tyork  in us to will and to do of His
               either reject.  or accept 4he covenant promise and thus      good pleasure ; but the latter is the ground of the for-
               let the Holy Spirit dwell in them. _ It is really a grace    mer. IGod through His Holy Spirit is always first,
               that makes of the covenant children little Pelagians,        and there never can be  any condition or prerequisite
               and that gives them a free will to choose either for or      w.hich man must fulfiill in order to receive the -saver-
               against the cqvenant of IGod. .                              eign and.efficacious  grace of IGod.
                  ,The Liberated do not accept this theory of Heyns            But perhaps- you say : with  this we agree. The
               is far,as we know. Schilder, at least, rejected it and       Holy Spirit' is first, at least in the beginning of the
               criticized it in an article in the Refownahie. But nie-      work of  salvatcion.  This part of the work-of  *God is
               fher- do they solve the difficulty in which their own        certainly sovereign and unconditional. But do not con--
               theory involves them. For according to them, also in         ditions ente? afterwards? Is it not thus, perhaps, that
               this part of .the Baptism Form the promise of the Holy       we must fulfill the condition of sanctification, of a
               Ghost is made conditional. I- It is mea@ for all the' hap- walk of obedience and in a new and holy life, in order
               tized children. ,God promises to all that the Holy Spi-      to receive and ,enjoy the continued indwelling of the
     .         rit .will dwell in them. But this- promise is realized       Holy (Spirit in us?
               only if they believe, and they can reject this promise          My answer is : No, there are never any conditions
               by unbelief.                `.                               in the relation of man toward God. No conditions en-
                 l&t this does not solve the difficulty. For the pro-       ter in at any stage in the work of salvation from the
               mise ~,f Ithe Holy Spirit and of :the indwelling of the      first reception of the Holy Spirit until the final pre-
               Holy  Bpi&' certainly implies the promise of faith.          servation and perseverance of the saints and until the _
               God therefore promises here that He will, so work in         rccurrection of the dead.
               the' hearts of those that are baptized that they come to         This also is implied in this third part of the se-
               faith. And if this promise is for all, then either all       cond paragraph of the Baptism Form. For we read
               will receive- the faith and Ibe saved, or man, either bi     there that ,the Holy Spirit "will dwell in us and sanc-
               his natural light or by the Heynsian preparatory grace,      tify us to be members of Christ, applying unto us that
               is `able to frustrate the promise of God that He will        which we have in Christ, namely, the washing away
               dwell in the ,hearts of the baptized to work faith in        of our sins, and the daily renewing of our lives, till
               them, or accept this pmmise.  In last analysis, there-       we shall fiinally be presented without spot or wrinkle
          foye, the proniise of the Hbly Spirit is conditioned up-          among the assembly` of the elect in life eternal." This
               on the will of man. I am well aware that the Lib-            is the promise of <God  sealed unto us in holy baptism.
               erated do not accept this alternative. They want to          And just as the beginning of the realization of the pro-
               be Reformed. But neither have they ever explained            mise, namely, that the Holy Spirit will dwell in us,
               this difficulty and this flat contradiction in their the-    is sovereign .and unconditional ; just as in that reali-
               ory. .It is especially on this point that they are .al-      zation of ,the promise in its beginning IGod is absolute-
               ways accused of.-Arminianism. And unless they niake ly first, and man always follows; so also in all the rest
               themselves clear which they have never done, the accu-       of the application of our salvation by the Holy Spirit
               sation stands.                                               in the hearts of the elect God is, and remains, first,
                  There is and can be only one Reformed position and        and we fpllow. In applying all that we have in Christ,
               only one Reformed interpretation of this pal*t of the ,the Holy Spirit regenerates us sovereignly and uncon-
          Baptism Form. And that is that  the promise of  the               dit.ionally; He it is ,that implants the first seed of re-
               Holy Spirit is not for all, but for the elect seed only, generation in ,our hearts ; He it is that through the liv-
               and is absolutely unconditional. He promises, and He ing and abiding Word of IGod quickens that seed ; and
               realizes the promise of the Holy Ghost,' not to and in       He it is too .that by the gospel calls that seed of re-
               all `the children that are born under the historical dis-    generation,. quickened by the living and ever abiding


                                                                                                           .
 30      I                          THE,  S T A N D A R D   - B E A R E R                                             _

Word of God, into conscious activity sovereignly, effi-      unchangeable. purpose of election, does not wholly
caciously, and unconditionallly.. He it is that gives us     withdraw the Holy Spirit from his own people, even
the living ftiith whereby we are ingrafted into Christ;      in their -melancholy f,+lls ; nor suffers them to proceed
and also that faith, as the gift of the IIoly Ghost, is      so far as to lose the grace of adoption, and forfeit the
not a condition, but a mere instrument whereby our           state of justification!,  or $0 commit the sin unto death ;
.soul is united with Jesus Christ our Lord. He it is         nor does he permit them to be totally deserted, and
ithat washes away our sins and renews our life; and. to plunge themselves into everlasting destruction."
there is no.condition  attached to ,this work of the Holy    Canons V, 6.
Spirit in us. And He it is that preserves us unto the               And in Article `7 of the same  cha&er of the
end, until we shall &rive in the assembly of the elect       Canons : "For in the first place, ia these falls he pre-
in life eternal.  Even this preservation of  ethe Holy       serves in them the incorruptible seed of regeneration
Spirit unto the end is not conditioned by perseverance,      from perishing, or  beillg totally lost; and again, by
or even by %he willingness to persever. But on the his Word and Spirit, certainly and effectually renews
contrary, the preservation by the Spirit is first, and       them to repentance, to a sincere and godly sorrow for
the perseverance of the saints follows as the result `their sins, that they may seek and obtain remission
and the fruit of the former*.                                in the blood of the Mediator, may again. experience
    To teach different.ly  is simply Arminianism, pure       the favor of a reconciled :God, through faith adore his
and simple. The  ~Arminians also taught a  preserva- mercies, and henceforth more diligently work out
,tion of the saints until the end ; but this preservation    their own salvation with fear and trembling."
was conditioned by the willingness of the saints to
<continue  in th'e grace of the Spirit to preserve them.            And they reject  ;the errors of those "Who teach:
For this is exactly the teaching of the Fifth Article        That the perseverance of the true believers is not a
which the -Remonstrants composed in ,Gouda  in 1610.         fruit of election, or a gift of God, gained by the death
This article reads as follows:                               of Christ, ,but a `condition of the new covenant, which
                                                             (as they declare) man before his decisive election and
    "Those who are gl'afted int.q Christ by a true faith,    justification must fulfill through his free will."
and therefore partake- of His vivifying Spirit, have
abundance of means by which they may fight against                  The w.hole of salvation, therefore, from beginning
Batan, sin, the world, and their mown flesh, and obtain      lo. end, is absolutely unconditional and sovereign. God
the victoY'y,  always, however, by ,t.he aid of the grace    is always first, and man always follows.
of the Holy Spirit; .Jesus ,Christ assists them by His              Moreover, how otherwise could our fathers have
Spirit in ali temptations, and stretches qut His hand ;      maintained ,the validity of their doctrine of the bap-
and provided they are ready for the contest, and seek        tism of infants? They surely fulfill no  cqnditians.
His aid, and are not wanting in their duty, He               They have `the promise of the Holy Spirit. In them
strengthens them to such a degree that they cannot, be       %od works His salvation. And when thus the salva-
seduced or snatched from the hands of Christ by any          tion is wrought in the littlest children of the covenant
fraud of Satan or violence, according to that saying,        that salvation can never be lost. Which means ,the
John 10 :28, `No one shall pluck them out of my hand.' same thing -as saying that it all depends- on God alone,
But tihether  these very gersons cannot, by their own        and -that it is unconditional.
negligence, desert the commencement of their being                                                              H.H. .
in Christ, and embrace again the present world, fall
back from t'he holy doctrine once committed to them,
make shipwreck of their conscience,  and- fall from
grace; this must be fully examined and weighed by                                  -- :-:-
the Holy Scripture before men can teach it with full           _
tranquility of mind and confidence."
    And this last proposition was so modified by the
followers of Armipius that the possibility of falling
away from grace if man did not fulfill the conditions                   Lo!  ~11 a narrow heck of land,
of persevering and fighting against sin, the devil, the
world, and their own flesh, was positively maintained                  ,`Twixt two unbounded seas .I stand,
and asserted.                                                             Yet how insensible !
    Over against this false doctrine our Reformed fa-                   A point of time,  a moment's space,
thetis placed the following propositions: ,                             Removes me to yon h'eav'nly place,
    "But SGod,  who is rich in mercy, acdording-to his                    Or shuts me up in hell.


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER.                                         31

                                                                      plies  that they must  lbe followers of  -#God, as dear
          THE TRIPLE  KNOWIJXXE~ <children.. .They titist walk in love, as Christ- also hath
                                                                     - loved theni. !On the other hand, they must put far
                                                                        from them, so that it is not even named among them,
        An Exposition Of The Hbidelberg all fornication and uncleanness, filthiness, foolish
                            Catechism                                - talking, jesting and walk as children of light in tl&
                                                                        midst of the world. They must bring forth the fruit
                             ,   P A R T   I I I                        of the Spirit, and have no fellowship with the unfruit-
                                                                        ful works of darkness. They must, moreover, walk
                      O       F              THANXFU.LN~.~S   '         in true humility, submitting themselves one to an-
                                                                        other in the fear of God.
 . .                        Lord's Day 33.
             . .                                                            The same direct reference to the old and the new
                                      2                                 man is found in Colossians 3 :9,10,- where the apostle
                      The Old and the New Man                 -~-       writ& that the saints "have put off the old man with
           The Catechism, -in ,Lord's  Day 33, Question and his deeds ; And have put on the new man, which is re-
   Answer 88, informs  US that  conversi,on  consists of                newed in knowledge after the image of him that cre-
   two p&s, the mortification of `the old, and the quick-               ated him." And also in this chapter the meaning
        enilig of the new man. The.~atiestion  arises, therefore,       of the old and new man is explaine`d in the context.
   first of all: what is meant bjr the terms the oM man                 That they put on. the new man implies itbat "as the
   and  the  `12eto  m&i? And  seiondly,  what is the  morti-           elect of  #God, holy and b&loved, bowels of mercies,
   fication of  the old man, and what is meant  by the                  kindness, humblen'ess of mind, meekness, longsuffer-
   quickening of the new man?. The last question the                    ing" they put on. It implies that they forbear one an-
   Catechi.sm answers itself in  Questi,ons  and Answers                other and forgive one another, , even as Christ for-
   89 and 90. But the first question it does not answer                 gave them. It implies that they put on love, which
at all. It evidently takes  ,for granted that the Chris-                is the bond of perfectness ; that they let the peace of
   tian knows what is meant by those terms. Yet also                    <God rule in ,t.heir  hearts ; and that they let the Word
   this question is very imgortant,  and the- correct an-               of Christ dwell in thin?. richly in all wisdom. It im-
  swer to it is very significant for the life of the ,Chris-            plies,  in. short,  ,that whatsoever they do in word or
  tian. This question,`therefore we will consider in the                deed, they do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giv-
  present chapter.                                                      ing thanks to God and the Father by him. This is
           Scripture speaks v&y freguently of the- old and              implied in the putting on of t,he new `man. On the
  the new man. Directly  it refers to them  ix;  Eph. 4:                `o!ther hand, the old man consists of the. members that
  20-24 : "But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be                  are upon the earth, such as "fornication, uncleanness,
  that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him,                  inordinate affection, .evil coixxpiscence, and, covetous:
  as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning                  ness, which is idolatry." All this ihey must put of?,
  the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt                 together with all anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,
  according to the deceitful lusts ; And ,be renewed in. filthy communication. out of their mouth, and all ly-
  the spirit of your mind ; And that ye put on the new                  ing and evil speaking.
 man, which after ,God is created in righteousness and                     But it is not only dir&tly, but also indirect.ly,  that
  true holiness." Here the church is admonished to put                  is, without meitioning the terms, that Scripture re-
  off the old man and  $0 put on the new man.  ,And,                    fers to the old and new man in many passages. Thus,
  what is concretely meant by these is plainly expound-                 for instance, in Rom. 6:3-11: "Know ye not, that so
  ed in the verses that follow in chapters 4 and 5. It                  many of us as were` baptized litit0 Jesus Christ. were
 means that the church is exhorted to put away lying,                   baptized into his  deaitih?  Theref,ore  we are buried
 and to speak every man truth with his neighbor; that                   with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ
 they must be angry without sinning; that they must                     was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Fa-
  steal no more, but labor with their hands ; that no                   ther, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
 corrupt communication must proceed out of their                        For if we have been planted together in the likeness
 mouth, but, on the contrary, that which is good .to the                of his death, w.e shall be also in *he likeness of his
 use of edifying. It means that all  bikterness,  and                   resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is cru-
 wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking they                   cified with him, that the body of sin might. be de-
 must put away; and that they. niust be kind to one                     stroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For
 another, tenderhearted, forgisving on& another, even he that is .deg$ is freed from sin. Now if we be dead
 as God far Chri&`s sake bath forgiv.en them, It  im- with Chrisit, we believe that ye shall also live with


38                                    T H E   ST'ANDARD  B E A R E R   -

him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the. dead                 Let us -ask, first of all :- what is the new man? The
dieth no more ; death hath no more dominion over              answer is plain: the new man is the Christian as he
him. For in that he'died, he died unto sin once.:. but        is regenerated by the Spirit -of God.
in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon              .The further and important question arises: just
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but a-         what in the Christian is regenerated? According to
live unto- God through Jesus-~ Christ our Lord." The          Dr. A. .Kuyper, it is the person of the believer that is
old man, according to this passage, is therefore he           regenerated. Writes `he, in  The  Wor:k  of.  the Holy
that through- being baptized into the death of Christ         Spirit, pp. 480, 481:
is dead unto sin, while the new man is the believer as               "But who goes from strength to strength? Surely
he is raised wiith Christ unto newness of life. IOn the       not the old man. It may not be said that regeneration
basis of this fact the apostle admonishes the church          effected a change in him which is constantly increas-
in the same chapter that they must not allow sin to           ing, which enables him to make such commendable
reign in t.heir mortal bodies that they should obey it        progress that by `divine help he will probably succeed
in the lusts  ,thereof.  And they must not yield their .in the end. This is not so. Scripture teaches that the
members as instruments. of unrighteousness unto sin,          old, man is dead, condemned to die f'orever ; that. he is
but rather yield themselves unto God as those that are        incorrigible and cannot be restored, saved or .recon-
alive from the dead, and their members as instru-             tiled. He is hopelessly lost. And instead of gradually
ments of righteousness unto %dd. vss. 12, 13.                 becoming himself again he must, be crucified, slain
      Again, there is a reference to the old man and its      and buried. Instead of expecting anything good of
mortification in Rom. 8 :12, 13 : "Therefore, brethren,       him, it should be our glory to die to him and be rid of
we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.    him.
                                                              _-
For if  ye`live after  the.flesh, ye shall die: but if ye            "Neither does the &ew man go from strength to
through the Spirit do mortify- the deeds of the body,         strength. He is no:t. being put together little by little
ye shall live." Let us note how frequently the apostle        until he can stand on his own legs ; but, since we are
speaks, especially in connection with the old man, of         to live forever in the new- creature, it must be a real
the body, t.he members of ,the body, and the deeds. of        man born in us. And as such he cannot increase nor
the body. In fact, in vs. 10 of `this same chapter of         decrease; he only. slumbers in the germ and must
                                                                                            _
Romans, he writes that if Christ be in us, the body           arise.
is .dead because of sin, while the Spirit is life because            "But rnl~ person, as by faith I stand in Christ, must
of. righteousness.                                            go from strength to strength. That person was once
      Finally, to quote just one more passage, we refer       born .in the old man, and therefore was born in tres;
t,o II Cor. 5 :14,15 : "For :the love of Christ constrain-    passes and sin, and is - a child of wrath by nature.
eth us ; because we thus judge, that if one died for all,     And he would never have come out and escaped from
then were all dead: And-that he died for all, that            the old man himself. That he could not do. He was
they which live should not henceforth live u&o them-          identified with the old man so completely that the lat-
selves, but unto him which died. for. them, and rose          ter was his very ego. He had no o:ther life or exist-
again." And in vs. 1'7 of the same chapter theapostle         ence.  -But in regeneration a change took place. By
makes -the very strong statement : "Therefore if any this ,divine act our person is in principle mdetached from
man be in Christ, he is a new creature: ol,d things           his former ego in`the old `man. The root was notched
are passed away ; behold, all things are become new." and, by the constant-action of storm and gravitation,                   . .
Also here the reference is evidently ,to the old man that     the severed parts separated more -and more. Our per
has died with Christ and t'o the new man that is a new        son is no longer identified with the old man, but op-
creation in Christ Jesus our Lord.            _               poses him. Even though he succeeds in enticing us
      Now, the question arises: what exactly is meant         again to- sin, even. in the yielding we do not what we
by the new man and the old man? It is evident from            will, but what we hate. .Only hear what St. Paul says :
the passages quoted, as well as from' the Heidelberg          `The good which I would I ado not, but the evil which
<Catechism, ,that the old man and the new man exist           I would not that I do. Now, lif I do ,that I would not;
in the same Christian at the same itime, in this pre-         it is no more-1  that do it, but sin that'dwelleth in me.'
sent life and  in. the present world.  IOtherwise the               "Wherefore the child of God must not be identified
apostle could not write to the church~ of Christ that         with the old man after regeneration, for this opposes
they must put off the old man and put on the new              the plain teaching of the Word. He is. the old man no
man. Nor could the Heidelberg Catechism teach, us             more, but wars against him. As God's child he is be-
that- conversion is the mortification of the old man come the' new man-not in part, but  ,wholly.   501~1
and the quickening of the new man, ;                          things are passed away, behold all things are become
                                                                                                           4


                                  _          THrE  STANDA.RD   B E A R E R                                                        33

 new.' In this, and nothing less, is cause' of ailis glory- Kuyper feels that this `theory does not solve ihe prob-
  ing. His person is passed from cleath into life. He is              lem, and certainly is not in harmony with what Paul
  translated from the kingdom of  dark&&  -into  t$e                  teaches'iq Rom. 7. The result is that he offers a se-
  kingdom of IGod's dear Son. He is so fully identified               concl explanation, which consists in this, that, a&ord-
  wit.11 the new man that, while still living in this world,          ing to him, the regenera'e! ego may live in the con-
  he is already set with Christ in heaven, where his                  sciousness of the Christian `so that he kndws  that he
  citizenship is, and where his life is hid with Christ in            is regenerated, yet so that this regenerated conscious-
  G o d .                                                             ness is only in part, and that for the rest of his colt-
         "If the word of the Psalmist does not refer to the           scious life he still lives the life, or death, of the old
  pld man nor to the new, to whom, then, does it refer?               man.
  The Scripture answers : to -believers, their person, their             With .this theory of Dr. Kuyper we can never agree.
  ego, which being detached from the old man &nd op-                  By the concept person, or ego, we refer to a mere, fo+
 posillg him, is identified with the new. ThezJ go from               ma1 and psychological distinction. It is without any
  strength to strength. It is  true, the use of `ego' in              spiritual, ethical contents. The person is simply the
  both senses is apt to confuse one ; yet St. Paul does the           subject of all our actions from a natural, psychologi-
  same thing. He says `I' and `not I' : `I live, yet not I,           cal viewpoint. The person remains &he same whether
  bqt Christ liveth in me.' The same person who fell in               before or after regeneration. Let us note that in
  Adam and out of  Adam received the old man with                     Rom. 7 :14, ff., the apostle constantly speaks of the
  whom for a time he was identified, is now changed,                  same person : "I am carnal; sold under sin. For that
  translated and risen with Christ; ou:t of Christ he re-             which I do I allow vat : for what I would; that I do not ;
  ceived a new man, and with that new man he is being                 but what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I
  more and more identified.             -Hence he goes -from          would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now
  streng-kh to strength.                                              then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwell&h
   "This  id,entification  of our person with the new                 in me. For I know .that in me, (that is, in my flesh),
  man is, immediately after regeneration, still very                  dwelleth no good thing : for ,to will is present with me ;
  slight; while we are so thoroughly bound t`o the old .but how ,to periorm that which is good I find not. For
  man, with almost all the fibers of our being, that it               the good that `I would I do not : but the evil which I
  seems as though he were still our very self. But' by                would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not,
 -the operation of the Holy Spirit we gradually die `to               it` is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."
  the old man, and at the same time the new man is ,It is always of the same ego, of the same person, that
  Iquickened  in us more and more. And, since both the                the apostle Paul speaks. The same person is the sub-
  dying of the old and  the gradual rising of the new                 ject ,of. what he does tind of what he at the same time
  man are profitable to our person, the Holy Spirit tes-              cloes not allow. The  -same.  person is the subject of
 .tifies  conctrning His own work that  ,we,  ,God's  chil-           that which he' would do; but `which at the same time
  dren, go from strength to strength until every one of               he does not do. The same person is the subject of all
                                                                      that. he does and which at the same he hates. It is
  us  in Zion appeareth. before God. It refers not only
  to                                                                  evident, therefore, that the person is not that which
         our  growing.  into the,  niew  mnn, but just as much
  to                                                                  is regenerated in the Christian.
         our  gra;dual deliverance  front   the  `dying  olcl man.
  In `both it is the same wo&&g, hence both afford.                                                                       H.H.
                                                                us
increase of strength."                                                                    El  m  El-El   El
    The same idea Dr.  .Kuyper  develops more elaborately
  in his De Genieene Gr&e, II, 304, ff: There Dy. Kuy-                             Wandering in the wilderness,
  per develops the notion that common grace improves                                 Far they roamed the desert way,
  the natural man even in his willing and thinking and                             Found no settied  dwelling place
  inclinations, but that .only his ego, or rather still more                         Where in peace secure to stay,
  definitely speaking, the center. of the ego remains un-                          Till with thirst and hunger pressecl
_ affected by this operation of common grace. The un-                              Courage sank within their breast.
  conveyted,  according to him, may experience the in-
  fluence of common grace even in-his consciousness, in                          .' To Jehovah then they cried
 ' his inclina'tions  and in his will, but never in the cen-                         In their trouble, and He saved ;
  ter pf his person or ego. But in regeneration this ego,                          He Himself became their guide,
  this person, of ian is radically changed, so radically                             [Led them to the rest they craved
  that he can liever turn away from -God and sink into                             By a pathway straight and sure,
 the  niire of sin and death  again. Yet  soniehow Dr.                             To a city strong, secure.         _


 34                                           T    H      E          STANDAR.D   -BEARER.
                                     - - -

                         VAN  B0EKE.N
~(OUD  TBSTAMENTISCHE  KANONIEK, door Dr. G.  &.  .Aal-              -.-. r  0.  U-R  .D 0  il T R I N E
   ders. Uitgever: J.  H.  Kok.,  N.V.  Karnpen, Nederland.
   Prijs f. 18.50.
  `Dit is een studieboek, niet bestemd voor het lezend                             `God's      Prov;dence              8
 publiek in het algemeen, zelfs niet voor hen, die het
 Neclerlandsch nog machtig, zijn. Wij  bevelen het                                              (      2      )
 echter g'aarne aan bij otize predikanten en studenten.                We are now discussing the Scriptural truth of
       Door  lOiT.-ische Kanoniek duidt de schrijver aan            God's Providence. In our preceding article we callecl
 wat bij ons bekend staat als O.`T. Isagogics of Intro-             attention to the ,Confessional and Scriptural basis for
 duction to the  cOl$  Testament. Het is eene  beschrij-            this  truth. We also noted that, although the term,
 ving v.an het ontstaaq, het auteurschap, den tigd, etc.            provid@c.e,   ,does not appear in Holy Writ with ref-
 van de verschillehde  boeken van het ,Oude Testament,              erence to `the Lord, the truth which is denoted ,by ,this
_ en van bun plaats en beteek&is~in~  den Kanon;                    term is everywhere .taught in Holy Writ. And we con-
       Na eene inleiding behandelt de schrijver eerst de            cluded  with. the following definit.ion  of `God's provi-
 Algemeene  Kanoniek, daarna cl@ bijzondere. De laat-               dence: Gdd's almighty and .&erywhere  present pow-
 ste neemt  begrijpenlijkerwijs   v&reweg  het grootste             er wherebjr He, in and through all creatures, executes
 gede&e van het boek in beslag. In dit d@ behandelt                 His counsel, sustains alllthings; and directs all tl$ngs,
 de schrijver de Wet, de vroegere  en `lat,er,e.profeten,           so that .&hey, without a solitary exception, mus't work
 en .de "geschriften".                                              toget&r"tipto ,the.attainment of the goal wliich He set
       In het algemeen wil ik van dit boek zeggen, dat hier         before  @r$elf  in.His everlasting counsel.
 een' man  aan het woord is, die  volkomen   meester is
 van de stof, die hij behandelt; die ingaat op de prb-              God's  Prozlidence   yefzdes   the heresies of  Deisnz  cmd
 &men, die aan de orde komen ; wiens oordeel beza-                    Pantheism
 digd en gerijpt is; en die van het begin tot het eind                 First,: the doctrine of Divine Providence Pefutes
 eerbied toont voor de Heilige  Schrift als het  gein-              the heresy of Deism. We must distinguish betweeh
 spireerde Woord van God. Van dit oordeel zou ik vele               Theism and Deism. Theism means that we believe in
 voorbeelden ten bewijze kunnen aanhden, zooals op                  :CGod,  stands over against Atheism, the denial of th?
 pag. 100, 135; 136, 151, etc. Maar de belangstellende              iiving `God. Deism, .however,  professes to believe in
 lezer kan niet beter doen dan het boek zelf tk bestu-              5 Divine origin of all things but denies Divine revela-
 deeren.  Doet hij dat, clan zal hij zeker  mijn oordeel            tion and God's ,continuous  concern with the creature
 onderschrijven.               -                                    which He had made. According to ,the dsist the worlcl
       Een vraag. Dr. Aalders  verdedigt,-en  terecht, dat          is a machine set, in motion by the living God  ancl
 dr?  `naam van Kores reeds in de profetie van Jesaja               which noti proceeds' to run by its own inherent power.
 kan worden  genoemd. Maar het is .m.i. eene inteles-               The world, then, is like unto an alarm'cloclr  which was
 Sante vrtiag : wat is de beteekenis van het noemen val;            set in motion by the Lord and `now proceeds to run of
"dieti  naam in de  pkofetie van  Je,;aja  eilkele eeuwen           itself. `Deism, therefore, separates God from the crea-
 voordat   d e   persoon   zelf  verschijnt?                        ture and presents the latter as independent of the For-
       H a r t e l i j k   aanbevolen..                             m'er. All  pelagianism  and  arminianism  is fundamen-
                                                                    tally deistic. -These heresies teach; with respect to
                                                                    man who is a moral-rational being, that the Lord had
                                    lw--7.y                         once equipped man  :with all powers  &d  gifts and
                                                                    means to continue to exist and ko develop. Man did
                                                                    not lose, acdording  to the pelagian and al'so the armin-
                                                                    ian, his original holiness and righteousness, and can
             Eternal King, enthron'.d above,                        therefore of himself will the things .that are good and
             Look down in faithfulness and love;                    pure. - He retains his original powers and gifts; and,
             Pkepare  our hearts to seek Thy face,                  in the entire work of salvation, man is presented and
             And grant us Thy reviving grace.                       viewed -as acting independently, can of himself will
                                                                    the gbod and salvation. God, to be sure, can influence .
             Unworthy to approach thy throne,                       man, .lead. -and encourage and persuade him, etc., ,but
             Our trust is fix'd on Christ alone ;                   the will to do and to choose and determine is of man.
             In him thy covenant stands secure,                     Man, according to this pelagian and arniinian concep-
             And wil from age to age. endure.                       tion, determines his sal;ation, no,t the living God. ' This


                                                                                                                                     I



                                     PH-E-                 .STANbAR.b                 .BEAREli                         35

presentation of things is a denial of the Lord's constant        with respect  to all things. IGod's Providence is sure-
and continuous operation in'all the creatu'res  whom He          ly all-comprehensive, includes everything. Scripture
has ,made, also in the spiritual-ethical sphere as:we            does*tiot leave us in doubt on'this point. No.t only are
shall presently see when we discuss ;the various ele-            all things, in general, comprehended under the Lord's
ments of Divine Providence.' At no time is the cr&-              provi'den-tial care (see Eph. 1 :lI; Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:
ture ever independent of. God. At no time must t.he              3), but even al1 the hairs of our head are all numbered,
existence of the world be viewed as the Punning of an            Matt. 1@:30: "But the very hairs of yoUi head are all
alarm clock. At no time is inari, e&n as far as the in-          numbered." The sparrows, the birds of hkaven, the
nermos.t recesses of his being are. concerned, to be re-         lilies of the field, the young ravens are all objects of
garded as a sovereignly free agent. To belie+ in -the            His care, ace&ding ;tq Matt. 10 :29 ; 6 :28 ; Ps. -147 :9.
Pqvidence of  IGod means,. first of all;  that we .bear          To be sure, we distinsguish between great things and
in mind the truth of ;God's  immanency,' that-  He.is con-       small things, and often do so erroneously. That which
stantly in all things and in every minutest detail. of           is `truly great and important often completely escapes
each thing, so that He is cdntinuously' at the helm and          our notice and attention. All `we see, and even this we        :
in charge of every movement in the heavens above and             see but in part, is that which lies -on the surface. His-
on the earth beneath, also. as ap&d %o every moraJ-              tory we learn to know, and then only in part. after it
rat ional being. In the living (God `every creature moves has been finished and recorded, not while it iS in the
and lives and has. its being constantly, -from moment            proe,ess,  pf fulfillment. And it is often difFi&lt to re-
to .moment,  dso in -the spiritual-ethical sense of the          cord history truly .and .accurately. We simply do not
word.                                    _..     4               know what is actually occurring `at the present time.
   -Secondly, the doctrine of Divine .Providence  `re-           We call events great only as they appear' as such to
futes the .error of Pantheism. . T,he word "pantheiSm,?' us., World Wars I and II were great events; certain
means : all is -God. Pantheism identifies the .creature          battles of these wars appear to us as outstanding.
with the living Gdd, -does not merely. teach that `God           But we utterly fail to see the events which led to these
is +n all things, but that He is all things.' Pantheism,         great happenings ; and we are so completely oblivious
therefore, rejects  the truth that the Lord is exalted           tq the iruth th& many "important, truly great" events
above the creature, is a- pepsonal  God,' Who eternal- were caused by and dependent upon what would other-
ly-knows and is conscious bf Himself as distinguished            wise seem so small and insignificant to us, if truly ob-
from all1 that which He has made. . . IOn the contrary,          served and understood by us, would impress  upon us
the world is God, or God as  He comes to self-revelation         the truth that-man never controls the destinies of na-
in the creature. .- This theory, we .readilg understand,         tions and peoples. Besiees,  we so often proceed frown
is the death blow to all religion and ,eJhical corlduct.         the wholly erroneous assumption that  great things
If God be the world and the world -be God, then -all             are things characterized by an abundance of effort,
we have is the world -and no IGod. And if there be               whereas little things require little or no effort, and we '
no IGod then there is no sin (for if God exist not we            often apply this to the living ,God. Hence, the entirk
cannot sin again& Him), no religion,  no-life of prayer,         distinction which we make- between "great" and
for there is none to whom we can. pray. Patitheism               "small" must fall away entirely when we speak of .the
is the godless denial -of the living IGod and must cul-          living God. [God sees'thing8 as they tiuly are. `God a- `.
minate in hopeless confusion and chaos.               However; lone does. all things. ".And with the Lord there,-is a0
.me readily: understand that the. Scriptural truth .of           greater or lesser effort. The Lord, we  underst&nd,
,God's  Providence refutes this wicked heresy. The Pro- -never exerts Himself; hever puts forth `a greater a-
vidence of IGod not only emphasizes His immanency mount of energy. Bearing all ,this in mind-we may say
but. also His transcendency, that He is exalted ?bove that the Providence of God includes all the things `ttiat
atid ovei all. The fact that H~z created the .world and          remain to be treated in Dogmatics, the systematic
co&inues to sustain the world. emphaticdly emphasi- setting forth of  the truth.  The'doctrines concerning
zes the truth <hat He is therefore exalted above the             sin an< &e-fall of man, redemption through the blood
world, is -to be distinguished  from it. Indeed, the             and spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, salvation in all
works of God's, hands speak. t,o us of His power and %ts aspects, from regeneration through glorifictition,
Godhead, impress upon us that He is-almighty .Crea- the last ;things as including the new heavens and the
tor and also the Sustainor Who sustains and governs new earth, are -all governed and controlled, we under-
all ;things by His almibghty and omnipresent power.              stand,  `by the Providence of God. And, yet, these
In  Disthctioti  From  Crea&m                                    things are not discussed when -we discuss the Provi-
   `Generally sbeaking, _ we rpay say that. the Provi-           dence of .God ; they will be treated in their proper place
dence of God refers,to  the ,,qnfolding~of  God% counsel         and order.  Wheil  owe  disc@ the Providence of the


     36                                  fi3E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

     Lord we simply outline and set forth the general rules
     and principles which govern and characterize God's            God's  Pr&Adence  commonly  clistingui&ed   ai  :  Pre-
     universal care and control.                                     seruation,  Cooperatibn, -Government
           Nevertheless, we distinguish God's Providence from         It, is good to bear thik distinction in mind. In this
     His act of creation. Understood. in its broadest sense :t.hiaee-fold   destiription,  if  you  -i&11, of the providence
     as the unfolding of the counsel of the Lord, the Prov-        of #God we have a complete and thorough presen.tation
     idence of the Lord would also necessaFily  include the        of IGod's~ constant maintaininig  and control of all the
     act of creation. Also the act of creation is an unfold-       things which He has made.
     ing  `of God's counsel. However, the Providence of               I%owever,  this does not necessarily mean that we
     *God, d&fined as the almighty and omnipresent pdwer of        must therefore -conceive of the providence of God as
     God whereby .He sustans every creature and leads it           divided int,o three parts, *hat these parts must be un-
     to its Divinely appointed destiny, rather presupposes         derstood independently of each other, and that the one
     !he creature and h'is creation. Hence, whereas cre-           follows upon the other.     Preservation, Cooperation,
     ation is khe act of God which calls into existence the        and Government  ,are inseparably interwoven. We can-
     things which are not, Providence is the act of  God           not say, for example, that preservation refers merely
     whereby He sustains and controls and directs. the al-         to  :the existence  and being of the creature,  that co-
     ready created creature. In creation the Lord calls            operation refers exclusively to their activities, and
     into existence the things which are not; in providence        that government merely refers .to the goal or destiny
     we do no.t have the forming. of something'new.                of the works of God's hands; We may distinguish Abe-
                                                                   tween them-but we can never separate ithem, can never
           However, it behooves us to be cgreful. The distinc-     view one without mentioning the others. The one al-
     tion betwekn creation and providence does not imply           ways includes the others; preservation is always co-
     that the providence of the Lord is less iYonderfu1 than       opera!ion,  cooperation.is  always government, and gov-
     the Divine. work.of creation, or that, when discussing        ernment is always preservation and cooperation. This
     the providence of God, we are not dealing. with the           lies in [the very nature of the case. Preservation teach-
     same almighty power of the Lord. `God's providence            es us that nothing exists of itself,, and this does not
     must never be understood in the passive sense. of the         merely apply to substances as such but also ;to powers,
     word. The Lord never views the things merely pas-             to every activity, vil;tue, idea; briefly, everything ex-
     sively. (God always works  positively, with Divine pow-       ists out of, :through, and unto God. Cooperation calls
     er, in nature and also in the antithetical realization and    our attention to the same preservation, which does not
     deve1opmen.t  of His Kingdom and -covenant. God's             destroy or annul the being or nature of the creature
     providence is, therefore, always a positive act, not          but maintains it. And government calls ,our attention
     a permitting to exist, but a causing to exist, and that       to both, preservation and cooperation, the latter em-
     from moment to moment. This also implies to all               phasizing God's preservation of all His moral-ration-
     the moral ,acts of His moral-rational creatures. We           al creatures exactly as moral-rational beings, and em-
     understand, do we not :-if the Lord's -providence  were       phasizes the tru!Lh that the Lord preserves all His crea-
     merely a. n&-destructive work of Go.d, a permitting           tures in such a way \hat His Divinely ordained pur-
     of the things to exist as they are and .to develop, then      pose is rehlized. Always, from the beginning even un-
     it would not be ,God but the things themselves which          to the end, .the providence ,of God is that almighty and
     effect their own continuous existence beeails;  of their      omnipresent .power  of the living ,God in the heavens
     ihherent powers which they .themselves possessed. God- above and throughout-all the wqrks of His`hands, con-
     simply' permits the things to continue and the things Itrolling, the existence and d&tiny o$ every creature..
     continue to be and develop of themselves. This is De-
     ism. This is impossible. The creature is simply not           Fina&, God's Providence  is all-comprehensive.
     an `independent creature. That which does not exist              .This is surely emphasized in the- Holy Scriptupes.
     of itself  Gannet  possibly exist by itself; that which       We read in Matt. 6:2630:  "Behold the fowls of the
     has no,, inherent power in itself cannot possibly de-         air : for they sow not, niether do they reap, nor gather
     velop of itself! In fact, a creature that would exist         into barn& ; yet your heavenly father feedeth them.
     of itself is simply .an absurdity. In the Lord every-         Are  ye.not much belter  than they? Which of you by
,    thing moves and lives and has its being. If the Lord          taking thofught can add one cubit to his stature? And
     works not the  t.hings nothing  ,&curs.   And we shall why -take ye \hought for raiment? Consider the lil-
     presently see that this must be understood atid ap-           ies of `the field, how they grow: they toil ndt, neither
     plied in .the most universal and all-comprehensive sense      do they spin : And yet I say unto you, That ISolomon  in
     of the word. Strictly &peaking, God% providence ren-          all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Where-
     ders all  arminians wholly absurd,                            fore, if God `so &9&e  the .grass Q% the field, which to-


                                      T H E   STANDARD -BEARER '                                                      37

day is, land tomorrow 5s cast into Ithe oven, shall He not Lord is IGod alone and that there is none besides Him.
much more clothe you, 0 ye of li.ttle  faith?"                The  lariguage  of the Word of God is only too plain
   T.his implies that the Lord does not merely cptitlol -on  &i-is subject. Even the  infra,lapsaMan,  who is so
an'd direct what we are wont to call the greait things        afraid io make ,God t&e author <of sin (an'd well may
or big things' of life. So often we are addicted to the       we be afraid Ito make the Lord the author of sin) will
notion that God directs only the big things, or, if you       readily admit that there are Scriptural passages to
will, we very often make a wrong disitinction  between        which he fails to do justice, passages which teach but
big and little things. We often call those things big too plainly that the Lord assumes mdre than a merely
which `appear ,as such to us. There are things, then,         passive ati$ude to the fact of sin in the midst of the
which to us appear as requiring more effort and ener-         world. However, we will have m&e to `say concerning
gy than other things. And from our view-point this            the truth of IGod's sovereignty and sin in due time and
is also perfecltly  true. It certainly requires more ef-      in its proper place..
f,or.t, e.g., to move a piano across 9 room than an or-          Moreover, the truth of - the all-comprehensiveness
dinary kitchen chair. IOi, it certainly requires less         of the providence of #God implies that the providence
effort and concentration to -write  tiri ordinary letter      of rthe Lord, exactly because it is all-com@ehensi+e,
than a treatise on a complicated subjeat. And so we           is constant. Wk often overlook this fact. `All too fre-
also distinguish between great and small events. The          quently we entertain a rather strange notion of the
battles of Gettysburg and W,aterloo  are recognized as        Lord's.  control. over all things. Thtioretically we know
.two <of the most importan@ battles ever fought in the        thaii nothing happens by chance. But `many of  us
midst of the world. But we completely he sight of             do not hesitate to make constant use of the word
the fact that these tremen.dous  battles were datermined,     "luck" or "lucky". If we had made plans to leave
as far as. their outcome was concerned, by what we            on a certain `train and were prevented from doing so
would consider mere and insignificant details. We             because of unforeseen circumstances, and later hear
certainly should bear in mind that this e&ire dis'tinc-      that  -@ait train was  wrecised,  we say that this was
tion between great and small; activities requiring more       surely an act of the providence of God. And we fail
effort and those requiring less effort, falls away`when      to understand that it would hav.e been just- as Divine-
we speak of the living God. With the almighty `God           ly providential had we boarded .that train and been in-
there is no great or small in this sense of the word.        volved in its disaster. So often we read  cerrtain re-
In the providence of the Lord one activity does not re-      ligious books in which'characters appear who.are  pov-
quire more effort than another. The' Lord's omnipre- erty stricken, who trust in their Lord in the hour of
sent and omnipotent power directs all things, absolute- *heir darkest need and tiant, arid, to their complete
ly all things, so thdt He does all His good. pleasure and    ainazeme&  and .surprise,  find a basket of good Ithings
all thinlgs are His- good pleasure. Never is there a         upon their front doorstep.. Aed this is attributed to
creature anywhere who resists Him, is able to resist         a very wonderful and particular and special providence
Him. Even the devil and all his host; together .with         of the Lord. Nevertheless, as Reformed Christians
all the power of an evil world, are the instruments in       it. certainly. behooves us to-`believe and confess that
His hand atid consit.antly.  used by Him to realize His      the provid,enee  of the living God is constant, contin-
eternal will and purpose. This must be.understood in         uous, that He causes all things to work together for
the all-comprehensive sense of the  WOPC&-  ye can           our good, and that IJe is continuously' performing all
liever lay too much emphasis upon this Scriptural            His good pleasure. Nolthing is exempt from this Di-
truth. The  proyidence  of God also includes sin and         vine control over all things. We must believe that the
all the evil thoughts and actions of men. I repeat:          living God is  always  in control. In sorrow as well
we can never stress this !truth  too much. To be' sure,      as in joy, in sickness as well as in health, in adversity
we must proclaim the Scriptural truths concerning sin        as well as prosperity, in death as well as in life, in want
and the  responsibi!ity  of man. We must indeed lay          as well as in plenty, God,.and  God alone, is constantly
emphasis upon the fact that man is a moral-rational          at the helm. Then our faith in ithat God will not be
being and responsible f,or all his thoughts, words, and      sporadic, will no.t be confined to special events and cir-
deeds. The wicked  musit indeed be warned to flee from       cumstances, but it will be constant; even as the pro-
his wicked way and the people of thse living ,God must       vidence of God is con.stant.
be exhorted to walk ins al! the commandments of the                                                    H. Veldman
`Lord and to conduct themselves as children of the
light. But these truths mu& never be proclaimed at                I  .'
the cost of the absolute sovereignty of the Lord or as           2              -n-
                                                                      :  _I_                                 o-
coordinate  to the  all-ov$rwhelming   truth,  that the .*


                                         mm  .STANDARD   `.B%ARE%

                                                                    heid, reinheid, lief de, genade, barmhahigheid, lank-
     De  Z&e  &vaTing  \r/an Gods  Go?dheid                         moedigheid, enz. Hij is Zijn deugden.
                                                                     `. Als ioodanig is Hij het hoogste goed. En dan niet
              Smaakt en ziet  datt de Heere  goed  is;  w&geluk-    in den zin, dat van alle goeden, van alle mogelijke goe-.
            zalig is de man die  o.p hem betrouwt.  Balm   34:9     den, God de hoogste is, doch zoo, dat Hij` het inbegrip
     Deze psalm getuigt van `een der benauwendste tij- _ is van alle goe&eid. -AlIe goedheid' is in God allee;.
  dell uit Davids leven. Hij was vluehtende  voor-  bet 4 En als ge ergens in he$ heelal eenige goedheid ziet of
  aangezicht  . Sauls. Hij was gewaarschuwd door  Jo-               ervaart; moet ge het direct zeggen: deze of deze goed-
  nathan zijn vriend. Achimelech, de priest&r Gods, had             heid is van God gegeven. Deze of die goedheid is van
  hem van de toonbrooden  .gegeven, mist-gad&rs bet - God afkomstig, want Hij is de goedheid zelve, en alle
  zwaard van Goliath. En toen was hij gevlucht naar                 goedheid is uit Hem als de eeuwige Bron  vax goedheid.
  Achis in Gath. En  toen hij de  vorsten  der  Filistij-           Die goedheid .heeft #God geopenbaard.
  neg hoorde- murmureeren, zeggende: is dit niet Da-                   En dan we1 eerst in de schepping van hemel, zee
  vid. waarvan men z&g: Hij heeft zijn tienduizenden                en aarde. Zelfs nu; na den val der zonde, zingen tie:
  verslagen? toen maakte hij zich gek voor het aange-               Zijn goedheid kroont de jaargetijden! Hoe is die goed-
  zicht der Fiiistijnen.                                            -heid dan niet heerlijk, onuitsprekelijk heerlijk geweest
     0, het was benauwd geweest voor dien armen Da-                 v66r den val. Alles rondom Adam en Eva jubelde van
  vid. Luistert naar het zevende vers: Deze  ell'endike             die' goedheid (Gods. Onze eerste  ouders ademden `die
  riep eti de Heere hoorde; en Hij verloste hem uit `alle           goedheid IGods .in van oogenblik tot oogenblik.
 zijne benauwdheden. Hij spreek van al zijn vreezen,                   En zij zijn  zich ervan bewust geweest ook,  zoo-
  van een gebroken hart.en  van een verslagen gee&.                 dat er een lied .gezongen werd door hen, een lied, dat
     Daarom was David tot God gegaan om hulp en .popelde  in hun diepste-hart, dat weerklonk uit hunne
  heil. Hij  riep tot Hem-en Hij verhoorde hem. Hij                 keel, en dat daverde over de velden van het eerste Pa-
  rukte hem uit en `God verloste hem.                               radijs.
     0 ja, het is zeer benauwd geweest voor David, want              En  toen  - kwam de val. En met den val de  vloek
  let er  opj hoe de  Heilige Geest  d?t lijden van David           ,Gods.' En.toch, .er bleef een overblijfsel van de open-
  voortiit deed lijden opdat er een. type zou.zijn van het baring der goedheid Gods. Want God had gedachten
  groote  lijden van Christus. Leest het Blste vers: Hij            des vredes  v&n  eeuwiiheid. En de zonde van Adam
  bewaart  alle zijne beenderen, niet &n daarvan wordt              en Eva kon die gedachten des vredes niet vernietigen.
  gebroken. En als later Johannes bij het kruis staal$                 En zoo is het, dat we nog steeds den 19den psalm
  dan ziet hij, dat die tekst v&n Davids lijden in psalm            zingen: De hemelen vertellen Gods eer, en het  uit-
  34 vervuld+ geworden in het lijden van den Messias.               spansel .yerkondigt Zijner handen werk.
  Zijn lijden moet daarom zeer groot geweest zijn.                     Evenwel; tegelijkertijd `werden  `oak  geoperrbaard
     Maar de Heere  verloste  hem. En die verlossing                van den hemel LGods toorn en de verdoemenis d&r hel.
is David 21% zoet geweest, dat hij er `dezen psalm om               God openbaarde, dat wie God verltiat  smart op smart
  gedicht heeft. Hij heeft zijn ervaringen opgeschreven,            tee vreezen heeft.' L&t wel, dat is geopenbaard. Een
  doen  zingen in Israel, en Gods volk heeft ervan  ge-             ieder die in de zoogenaanide Christelijke landen-woont
  leerd, om in benauwde tijden tot den Heere te roepen              kan -bet weten. En nu moeten we we1 verstaan, dat
  om heil en ,hul,pe.' Dan z&en zij met David ervaren               ook die toorn en die verdoemenis  en die he1 eeh open-
  de groote  goedheid Gods die Zijn volk al>tijd' helpt, al         baring zijn van de goedhe'id  `Gods.
  is het dat het water soms tot aan" de lippen komt.                   10 ja, ik weet wel, dat vele mensehen dit zullen wei-
     1Ge gevoelt en verstaat, dat we slechts stamelen kun-          geren te gelooven.     Maar  .heti is desniettemin  tech
  nen van die goed,heid. Ten volle verstaan zullen we zoo.  En het is ook duidelijk. Een goede God moet
  die goedheid nooit. Zingt ge niet : Zijn goedheid gaat            toornen als Zijn schepsel tegen Hem zondigt. Het Zou
  het al te boven; Zijn goedheid duurt in'euwigheid?                juist kwaad zijn  als God den zondaar  riiet  strafte.
     En tech moeten we w&t zeggen van die goedheid.                 Wat aoudt `ge  denken  van een  .mensch  die Balmpjes
  En dat kan ook, ,want  Goq heeft haar geopetibaard.               kon staan te kijken bij het mishandelen vti: een.klein
  God is wezenlijk  goed. Dat wil zeggen, dat  kij,  .af-           kind, bi j voorheeld ? Zoudt ge  @et in  verontwaar-
  gedacht van  hei  schepsel,   goed is in Zichzelven.  In-         diging uitroepen: Mensch, wie ge ook zijt, waarom
  dien er nooit een wereld geweest ware, gesehapen tot              helpt ge niet om dezen beul te straffen?
-~  lof van  IGods goedheid, ook dan zou God Zijn Eigen                Zeker, g& moet ook de he1 verklaren uit de goedheid
  goedheid  eeuwiglijk bezongen hebben, want. Hij is                Gods. Zij is de handhaving van een God die  Zich-
  goed,"afgedaoht  pan mensch en b'eest  en engel des he-           zelven bemint boven ,?lles..  -En die Z,ich daarom dan
  mels.  Hij is  licht, waarheid,  gerechtigheid,   heilig- wok handhadt tcgenoyes den. zqndaar die Hem.,.tegen-


                                       .THE..STANDARD B-EARER                                                       39

staat en hoont. Het zal vreeselijk zijn te aallen in de goedheid' Gods zult smaken. En die staatsverwissel-
handen zjan een goedeq  `God, ,j&sE omclat Hij goed $s!. ing is Qok het Evangelic vanuit het juridische oogpunt.
   Doch de,hoogste  openbaririg van die goedheid Gods        Dat @bet Evangel&, de blijde boodschap voor doem-
is ons geschonken in de aanschouwing van hit kruis           schuldigen. Go? spreekt sommige m&s.chen vrij van
van Golgotha. Dat kruis spreekt t.ot ons van God die         schuld. En daardoor you-den ze onschuldig voor God.
Zijn eenigen Zoon niet gespaard heeft, doch die Hem          En dat geschiedt naar Goddelijk recht. En die recht-
voor ons  allen overgegeven heeft. En dat "voor ons          vaardigmaking rust op de eeuwige liefde Gods. Daar-
allen" ziet natuurlijk op het aantal der van God ge-         om spraken bnze vaderen  reeds van een rechtvaarclig,.
kenden  van voor de grondl.egging der wereld.                m&king van eeuwigheid. En terecht.
   0, dat bloed van dien  Zoon; Het spreekt betere              En de grond is de gehoorzaamheid van Jezus Chris-
dingen dan het bloed van Abel. Betere dingen, want           this  aan het kruis. Dtiar heeft Hij de prijs  betaald
bet spreekt van de~goedheid-van SGods hart voor Zijn         voor de rechtvaakdigmaking.       Hij nam alle de ,zonden
volk, dat Hij liefhad van eeuwigheid en zailiefhebben van IGods volk op zich en droeg ze weg in eeuwige stiar--
tot in alle eeuwigheid. ~0, die goedheid Gods zal blin:      ten. Dat is het  Evangelic. Die rechtvaardigmaking
ken tot in alle eeuwigheid wanneer  liet Koninkrijk wordt  aan den mensch toegepast door de gave des
Gods geopenbaard zal worden  door God in alle licht          geloofs; En let' wel: het is een gave ~Gods. Hij geeft
en. liefde en vriendschap van- Zijn trouwverbond.            ,dat geloof aan somigen, Zijn volk, doch onthoudt het
   Laat ons nu letten  op de ervaring van~die goedheid       aan de meerderheid, de groote meerderheid. En door
,Gods. Of gij die goedheid ervaart of -niet, hangt af        dat geloof ervaart ge, dat God U Uwe zonden verge-
van Uw staat en stand.                                       ven heeft, U aangenomen heeft tot Zijn kind, U recht
   &aat ons eerst letten  op dien staaf. `Of gij de-goed-    geeft op bet eeuwige leven, en dat ge vrede hebt met.
heid  [Gods  zult  proeven  en  stiakeli  ~hangt af van de :God. Is het niet om van te zingen?
vraag of ge schuldig dan we1 onschuldig zijt. Indien            -Maar er is nog meer. Uw stand moet veranderd.
schuldig, dan zult ge die goedheid nooit anders sma-         Van nature zijt ge goddeloos,  leelijk, gruwelijk, `ddod
ken, dan is de vreeselijke smartien  der hel. Dan zult in zonden en misdaden, en het wordt erger naarmate
ge eeuwiglijk ervaren, dat Gods goedheid ziehzelven          ge leeft op aarde. En die standveFwisseling is de we-
handliaaft.    De Heidelberger Catechismus zegt, dat dergeboorte en de bekeering, En ook  dat is een God-
sindsdien we tegen Gods majesteit, Gods eeuwige ma-          delijk werk. `Niemand kan zichzelven wederomgebor-
jesteit gezondigd hebben, Hij die  zondi! dan.ook met en  cloen  worden.  De gedachte is bespottelijk. Kan
tijdelijke en eeuwige straffen moet straffen.                iemand  -zichzelven  geboren  doen  worden? Ik  bedoel
   Laat,mij Bet eenvoudig mogen zeggen: Het is goecl         zijn  natuurliike   g&o&e?
van God, da!t Hij de goddeloozen in de he1 werpt om             Welnu, de eeilige Schrift gebruikt  het natuurlijk
daar te lijden en te weenen en te tandenknarsen -tot         beeld van de geboorte van een kincl voor deze heer-
in der eeuwigheid.                                           lijke daad vall God die de Schrift de wedergeboorte
  `Stemt ge dat toe? Indien ge dat toestemt, dan  noemt.
bewijst ge daarmede,  dat ge genade van God ontvangen           En zoo is het ooG met de bekeering. Dat besefte
hebt. Een natuurlijk mensch zal U  d& nooit toe-             men al in het Oude Testament, waar we hooren: Hee-
stemmen.                                                re, bekeer mij  en ik zal bekeerd zijn. En in het Nieu-
   Nu dan, een sehuldjg mensch zal nooit de goedheid         we Testament, hooren we deze gedachte: "opdat God
Gods in positieven zin ervaren. Hij zal nocit smaken, bekeering gave van hunnen  booz'en weg".
dat God-goed'is in den zin van mijn tekst.                      God geeft ook standsverwisseling.
 , Daarom, indien een mensch die goedheid Gods er-              En dan is het goed,  want dan wordt Gods volk lief-
varen zal, dan moet er-een  stasltsverwisseling plaats-      lijk. Ge kunt ,het keeren zoo ge wilt, ge kunt het ge-
grijpen bij hem. Hij moet onschuldig verklaard  wor-         looven of weigeren te `gelooven: God maakt Zijn volk
den. Het behoort tot Gods goedheid om den schuldige          lieflijk hier op aarde reeds. Ik wil bekennen, dat het
te verdoemen. Dat is ook zoo naar een andere deugd           slechts een klein beginsel is, doch het is 266 lieflijk,
van ,God, namelijk, vanwege Zijn gerechtigheid.              dat dit volk zingt: Ik ben een vriend, ik ben een met-
   Ziet het  aan het kruis! En-huivert. Daar  hang-t         gezel van allen die U naam ootmoedig vreezen en leven
Zijn eigen lieven Zoon. En  tech doet Hij de stralen  naar Uw  `Goddelijk  bevel!              `-
van Zijn eeuwigen toorn op Hem nederdalen.  Zoo-                En nu zegt de tekst, dat dit onschuldige, lieflijke
dai Hij alreede in het Oude Testament brulde: Wat            volk smaakt, ziet en betrouwk.
hit$e..  doet mij  branden ! Psalm 22.      .                   Dat is de ervaring van Gods goeclheid.
   En daarom, nog eens weer: er moet een  staats-               Dat volk smaakt Gods goedheid. Luistert naar
verwisseling plaatsgrijpen met U indien ge ooit de           Asaf. Hij zal het U vertellen: Het is mij-  koed  na-


 4        0                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA-RER

bij God te wezen. Men kan niet &et God wandelen en
niet smaken dat Hij goed is.
      Men ziet Hem en Zijn goedheid. Dat zien, j+, dat                               IN.HIS  F E A R
 zien spant de kroon. Zalig zijn de  r3inen van hart,
want zij zullen IGod zien. De Schrift-spreekt van een
 verzadigd worden  met Zijn Goddelijk beeld.                                              Looking T o The Future
      En  bet betrouwen op  God- is de ervaring -Gods                                           ,CHAPTER 3
 goedheid vanuit het oogpunt van bet zekbre, het vas-                                     0N  TEACHER  TRAINING
 te, het .fundamenteele  van die .goedheid.                    Als men op
 God betrouwt -dan bouwt men op Hem.                                            The reader will remember that in the last issue
      .Ja, we moeten nog wat zeggen van die zaligheid                        we began ito list and classify the courses which must
 dergenen die smaken, en die God zien als hen Algoeden                       be taught in a teacher training school. We began with
Vader.                                                                       t,he classification of strictly educational subjects, a,lld
      De tekst noemt hen welgelukzalig.                                      had listed three, namely, the principles of education,
      Zalig te zijn meent vol te zijn. In dit verband  be-                   6he philosophy" of education, and the psychology of
iteekent  bet zeker vol te zijn v&n een positieven goe-                      education -(or, at least, general psychology). We con-
 den  inhoud. Dat is  duidelijk  uit de  Hollandsch@   ver-                  tinue at this point. ,
r taling : welgelukzalig. Men kan ook yambzalig zijn, en                        4. Principles courses. In addition to the general
 dat beteekent ook dat men vol is, doch dan vol van                          course -of education, it is entirely possible, of course,
rampen. Maar deze man is vol van g&&. Want hij                               and also salutary, to -present individual courses in
heeft God gevonden die !$ch-liet vinden. Ephij heeft                         which the underlying principles, or philosophy, of all
`God gesmaakt, gezien, en heeft  zich op Hem betrouwd.                       the various -subjects in the curriculum of the primary
Dat maakte hem vol van geluk. En die gedachte woEdt                          and. secondary schools. ,Thus, for example,  ithe teach-
nog  wij,der gemaakt, wordt nog versterkt door het                           er should be acquainted with the.principl& of history,
voorvoegsel:  zuel. Hij is welgelukzalig.  ^                                 of geography, of arithmetic, of music, of language,
      Wat een rijke waarheid. En ik verzeker U dat dit                       ,etc. Here, of course, a large number of subjects is
ervareil wordt. Het is heerlijk om een bewust kind                           added to  .the curriculum of the normal school. And the
van God te zijn.                                                             ,q,uestion arises whether they are essential or non-
      Doch laat ons  eeiigzins mogen  otitleden  dat  ge-                    essential. Whether lthese subjects can be taught from
luk,  d i e   z a l i g h e i d ,   d a t   w e l z i j n .                  the very beginning, should we .begin to train our .own
      Ziet ge, zal een mensch gelukkig  zijq, dan ,moet                      tea&ers, is dependent largely on the physical equip-
hij (God hebben tot zijn deel vobr tijd en-eeuwigheid.                       ment and personnel which we would have. Whether
 Ik mag zelfs 266 v& gain, en zeggen': God Je hebben. instruction on this score is naoessaru  is hardly a ques-
voor zijn deel is eigenlijk het eenigste wat hij behi>eft.                   tion. 21f we would trim this course down to lthe bare
Het andere, al het andere is goe`d,.met  dankzegging &e-                     bone,~ the very least that,-could be done would be. to
noten, maar hij kan, als het moet, zonder al,die dingen,                     consolidate and condense all these individual courses
als- daar zijn: leven op aarde, vrouw en kind, have en                       in  .principles  under the one main course on the
goed,  eer en naam en positie.                                               principles of education mentioned above. The ideal
                                                                             would be  .that from the start  we present all these
      Dat kan hij,  als  -bet  meet,   missen. En Uwe  va-                   courses separately. And perhaps the best course of
deren en mijne vaderen hebben de tiaarheid  van wat                          action would be to present as many of these individual
ik zeide en poneerde bekezefi  door hunnen martelaars-                       courses in principles as possible, beginning with some
dood. Zij stonden voor deze vraag: wat verkiest ge:                          df the importanct subjects in the grade school curric-
Uw God of Uw leven? En zij kozen ,God en moesten                             ulum, and gradually  adciing others.       But certainly,
naar het  schairot en den  m&teldood.                                        we cannolt  entirely eliminate this phase of the teacher
      En  zoq is het. De mensch is op God aangelegd.                         training course. In my opinion, it is at this point
En dat beteekent, dat iijn diepste hart niet kan rus-                        in the whole course, in. respect to `the principles of the
ten tenzij .het rust in God.                                                 various subjects, that we get down to `(brass tacks"
      En zoo hebt ge bet gezien in dezen psalm, d&t .bavid                   as far <as specifically Reformed education is c0ncerne.d.
den mensch zaligspreekt die ,God mag smaken, die `God                        And the crying need of any Protestant Reformed teach-
mag zien, en die zich mag verlaten op God. (God is onze                      er is that he have the fundamental Reformed appr,o?ch
nooddruft.  Voor- tijd en eeuwigheid. Wanneer- we                            in regard $0 the subject ma@er  he must teach. I am
Hem hebben, dan is ons diepste verlangen vervuid, en                         convinced that a general course in the principles of
zijn we  -welgelukzalig !                                                    education will not-suffice to fill [that need. Those-gen-
                                                                 G. Vos      eral Reformed principles of- education. must be specif-


                                        THE- STANDAR-17 BEARER                                                        41

  ically applied to each subject of the grade school cur-       may, for the time being, ,be included with the courses
  riculum which the prospective teacher will be required        in principles of education. And, then, eventually the
  to teach, must be applied specifically and concretely.        course may~be-broadened  out to. include separate meth-
  And without this, teacher training, I. believe, would         ods courses.
  be a failure.                                                    6. Practice Teaching.      A thorough program of
      5. Methods courses. J&& as one may offer many             practice teaching is an ,absolute essen:t.ial. By this we
  individual courses in the principles of educatioh, so         undefstand  not only that the prospective teacher be
  it is possible, and also commendable, to give the pro-        given the opportunity to practice in the classroom of
  spective teacher instruction as to the methods of teach-      t.he grade school, but :&hat a thorough program of cri-
  ing rthe various subjects.    Hogever,  while I*, would       ticism of such teaching be arranged. This I deem
  riot deny the value of these cour,ses  in methods, I would    far more important than the methods courses which
  not attach the high importance to them tha,t I wou1.d         we mentioned above. Let thk prospective teacher be
  to the courses in the principles of education, Some           given ample opportunity for actual work in the class
  teachers will  undoubttedly disagree on this score. It room befdre.he permanenltly  takes up his work. And
  is certainly important for a teacher to-be able to get        let there be capable critics, either experienced teach-
  his material across to the pupil. And his method of           &s or the instructors of th`e normal school. And let
  approach, the various devices which he uses in his in-        the criticism be ruthless. Here is the testing grounds.
  st,ruction, are important in doing so. In this respect.,      If a teacher gives no evidence of being capable of
  for example, there is a vast difference between teach-        teaching ;the subject material and of maintaining or-
  ing -first grade pupils or eighth grade pupils ; and          der in the class, he should be told frankly, and, both
  there is a good deal of difference between teaching           for the benefit of. himself and of the schools and pu- o
  penmanship or teaching history. And woe unto the              pils, be elimina'ted  from the field.
  would-be {teacher who has his head, and even his heart,          This part of the teacher training course, however,
  full of sound principles qf history, but who cannot in-       should not be too difficult to establish, since it pre-
  culcake that history and the principles thereof into          sents very few problems as far as physical means and .
  the minds and'hearts  qf his pupils ! He will be a dread-     equipment ,are concerned.
  ful failure! Nevertheless, I `cannot cl-assify these             With `this we may close our classification of those
  methods courses as absolutely essential. My reason            subjects `peculiar to a course in education.       Other
  is -ithat teachers are born, not made. Teaching is `an        subjetits might be added, perhaps. One such subject
  art. And while you may certainly train and instruct would be a hisltlory  of education. Besides, specialized
  an artist, and thus help him to excel, you cannot- mcdue      courses, course3  which ,enter  into a particular aspect
  an artist out of one w.ho has no inborn artistic ability.     of one subject in detail, might be added. But these
  Ytou cannot make a' musician out of one who has no niatters do not belong within the scope of our present
  ear and no hear;t for music. You cannot make a pain-          distiussion. At present we are interested, merely  iq
  ter out of one who has no eye for. color and beauty.          the general teacher training course.
  And you cannot make a teacher out of one, who has                Hgwever, with all this the training of a teacher
  not the inborn qualities of a teach&r. `Give me' a born       is n.ot complete by any means. _ We have not yet dis-
teacher, and let him be trained in the fundamental              cussed those-  subjects which belong to a general col-
  principles of education, and I will trust him !to apply       lege education, and which are in many ways basic to
  those principles. But all the methods courses in the          a course fxor the training of teachers. It is important
  world will not make a teacher out of one who is not: a        that a teacher be himself a thoroughly educated per-
  teacher.    Methods courses may b& of' value in this re-      son before he becomes an instructor of others. .Es-
  spect, that :the prospective teacher reaps the fruits of      pecially is. this true in our highly ,educated age. How,
  the experience of teachers who have been actually in          for example, shall a teacher in&net primary or see;
  the class-room, -so $hat each teacher does not have to        ondary pupils in history, if he himself has never been
  discover for himself anew' the best way of teaching a         instructed in history beyond the limits of high school?
  given $Llbj,ect.- And therefore, if the means tand per-       And even though many of these subjects are not di-
  sonnel and equipment. are available to offer such cour-       rectly related to a course for the training of teachers,
  ses,, by all means do so. But jrou can very well have-a yet  i:t is undoubtedly true that any teacher should
  fundamentally complete normal course without  al!             ha;ve as complete and well-rbunded an education as
  these methods courses. Hence, to begin with, if nec-          possible. The tendency todajr is toward specialization.
  essity requires it, let us eliminate these methods cour-      And  -we should beware of its dangers. The science
  ses. Perhaps a gene'ralcourse on methods of teaching teacher must be so ste~eped in science- that he knows
- may be offered.  Pwhape  instrwtion as to methods little else, and looks at all things from the point of


         42                                   T H E   STANDA&b   B E A R E R

        view of science.        The literature teacher,, it seems,         e.
         must have his eyes closed to all but literature. In
      order to combat this tendency, our  goal'should be a                 F R O M   KOLY'WRIT
         well  - rounded, general college course.      A teacher
         should be thoro$ghly trained in grammar, in compo-
      sition and rhetoric, in  speech.          He should have a                             Exposition  of I Peter  1:3
         ctiuI%ze in basic logic, in higher mathematics,. in the                  In our former article we directed the reader's at-
        sciences, in history. He should know one or two of                 tention to two import.ant  factors as these we explicit-
        `the classical langtiages (certainly, Latin ; preferably           ly stated in the verses -1 and 2 of. I Peter 1. These
      - also ,Greek) . He should .have at least a reading know-            itwo factors were very briefly as follows:
        ledge of one or two modern languages. A knowledge                         1. That Peter writes as an Apostle of Jesus Christ.
        of sociology, of government, of economics should' be               He comes. with good credentials, and lays these on
        among his intellectual. possessions.                               the table <of the churches in Asia Minbr, and through
         ' And of course, if we are to produce in odr l?rotes-             them on the table of the entire Church of IGod in the
        tant Reformed circles finished teachers,, educators,               New ,Testament  Dispensation. We, therefore, do well
        teachers who will be capable of teaching their pupils              to acknowledge him as such, and receive him in a Pro-
        well, not  ,only, but teachers who will be capable of              p h e t 's   n a m e .
        making a permanent contribution to the cause of Pro-                      2. That incidently we receive a wonderful sketch
        #testant  Reformed education, we must have well-educa-             here on the fundamental and actual "status quo" of
        ted meri and women. I venture to go farther: our                   the church in the world. We are "strangers accord-
       o teachers must eventually have all their ,education in             ing to the elective foreknowledge of God the Father";
        the Protestant Reformed line.  Even'tually,  we must               election is the source and fountain of our bein*g  stran-
        have not only a grade school: not only a high school,              gers. The effi$ent (working) cause of our being such
        not merely a nqrmal school in the limited sense of the             strangers is the sanctifying operation of the Holy
       . word ; but we need our own -college. And if we ever Spirit through the ministry of the Word  ; and the
        reach the point that we establish a normal school, it              manifestation, the fruit of this being "elect strangers"
        will soon become evident that we cannot stand still.               is that we walk in the new obedience of faith and hope
        The internal life of such a normal school will demand              as this is wrought by the Spirit of sanctification in
        the expansion of the course; and besides, the demand               our hearts.
        for instruction will soon force us no more to limit                      Such is our new status quo in the Lord.
~.      highe? education to teachers, but to open a school for                   Of. this our former article treated.
        instruction in more fields. And so, as we have pre-                  We must proceed.
        viously indicated, t"he end of expansion is llot yet in                  Let us now attend to the  woliderful "confession"
        ,sight.                                                            of this church of :G& as this' is made by the Apostle
                For the present, however, we may have to be sat-           Peter as he stands in their  mid&;  being "a  fellow-
        isfied with a normal course in the limited sense of the            partaker ,of the glory that is about to be revealed".
        word. Possibly we could begin with a few 02 the gen-               Compare I Peter 5:l.
        eral college subjects, possibly not. I$ may be that for                  Peter stands as an Apostle here speaking to the
        a time our prospectiSe  teachers would have to seek                churches..
        that-part of their education elsewhere, as  ithey do now,                But he also st&nds as one of the redeemed saints,
        even though  .principally  it would throw a  monkey-               whose feet have been washed, and who, therefore, are
        wrench in the machinery of their education.                        wholly clean !
                But I ai convinced that the time is not distant                  Hear him sing in this twofold capacity! And his
        when we must and shall establish the beginning of our              song and ours? It is: `r131essed be the God and Father.
        own teacher training school. It will probably be a . -of  our  Lord Jesus  Chyist, Who  accord&g  to His  abuk
        humble beginning. Let it be. But let it be healthy,                Idcmt  m.ercy  h&h  begott;en.us  again to a  lively hope
        principally sound, and as complete as possible. And                through  the resurrection  of  Jesus . . . .  "
        let                                                                `The first element which we would notice in this
                us beware that we be not satisfied with half fin-
        ished, amateurish efforts.                                         exalted song of praise is: what is the real and actual
                                                H. C. Hoeksema.            qubject here in this passage?
                                                                      -          It is true that the apostle here tells us some very
                          ..s`
                                m-ono                :          ;-         wonderful things about our "new birth" in Christ, a-
                                                           .               bout' its manner and high and exalted purpose in the
                                                                           saints,  ,One would, judging superficially,  conclu.da


                                           TH.E  S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                              4 3

  t@ subject of which the apostle sings to be : our sa&          who had not obtained mercy have now obtained mercy
  vation, or more particularly our having been brought           through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And they
  from the graire.of  death and hop@essness  into a new          who, were without hope .and without God in the world
  world in Christ Jesus by "regeneration".                       have now tiercifully been brought near through the
           But would such a conclusion be warranted in the       power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Compare
  light of the beautiful and concise language of the text?       1 Peter  2:9,  10; Eph.  2:jll, 12.
           I think not!                                               T.he riches of the. mercy is as rich as God is. It
           The reason ?                                          is a riches that is a Divine pleroma (fulness) a bound-
      If words have sense'and meaning in Scripture, (and         less measure of all the joys of the hope of salvation.
  they do) then the subject in this praise is not our sal-       It is the overflowing cup of bliss and endless satisfac-
  vation, but the GocE of our salvation as He is the Fa-         ition.
  ther of our  LorcZ Jesus Christ! Peter is singing of the            What a Savior ! What boundless rich mercy !
  SAVIOR and not  ,of salvation. This song. is  ,God-'                And this was all manifested in the  resurr.ection
  centered (`Theocentric) ; it is not man-centered, not of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  even when we look at man as redeemed man. The re-                   How well Peter remembers this resurrection ! How
  deemed man, Peter and all the other saints with Him,           Iittle he  hid understood of it at. the time. But  it,he
  stand here with their faces directed toward God in             Lord  had opened his mind that he might know the
  the face of Jesus Christ. The song is not: what a sal-         Scriptures, that the Son of man must suffer and die
  v&on; but is is: what a Savior! Not the gift is  ori           thus, in  the way of the  restirre,ction,   enter into His
  the foreground, but the %&er!                                  g l o r y .
           The rule here is: Out  of  Him,  through  Him and          10f this Son of man Gocl is the Father. Jesus says
  u&b Him are all things! God i's above all, through             on the morn of the resur2ection  to Mary of Magdaia:
  all  ar$ in all of our  salvat,ion.                            Go tell my brethren, that I `$,scetid to `my GocZ and your
           Hence : Blessed be God!.           '                  Go,d and to my F&her and. your Fathe?!
           Such is `the subject in $s central focus-point.-           Such became our status quo on ,t.his blessed morn-
           When this is kept in mind then what is said of our    ing; it -became so "manifestly". Let us never deny
  salvation will needs come to stand before our sancti-          this birthright. Let us stand next tom Peter and sing
  fied aitention  in such a way .that we will see iit all in     along with him. Ah, had not Peter's voice joined that
  relation to God's elective -foreknowledge, the efficacious     of his Lord in :the night of the last Passover? Let us
  operation of His `Spirit. -Nothing will then `be of man        then sing: Blessed be the God and Father of our `Liorcl
  but all qf <God. Soli Deo (Gloria!                             Jesus Christ. . . Let us sing in this !Schola Cantorum
           The second element that calls for our attention is    under the' Great Sweet Singer in Israel, and that too
  the (God of our salvation is worthy of praise since He         by the power of His resurrection. For His God is our
 has  begotten  u,s from the  &ad  tihrough the resurrec-        <God  and His people our people, and where he died we
  tion of Jesus  Ch.r@t.                                         died and we live since He lives. Let  us  sing with
           The resurrection from the dead of Christ is `ithe     greater strength than ever the Moabitish Ruth could
D central m,anife~&ation of ~God's rich mercy  .to us. ,God      sing. -1s not the least in the New Testameit greater
  does not have mercy on us because. Christ arose for            than the grebtest in the Old Covenant?
  Lx3 !      It is just the other way around.  >Christ arose         Stand then in the "status quo" of your liberty in
  $or us and the power of this resurrection is for us be-        Christ. and sing the song of the freed-mag for whom
  cause God's mercy is rich. And. God was pleased to             so great a price was paid!
 manifest this rich mercy to us ifi the way of Christ's              Thus standing in the "status ,quo" we shall surely
  death and resurrection. He.was delivered for our of-. have the focus-point of al! our praise in the <God and
 fenses and' He was raised for our justification. In             FatheY;  of our Lord Jesus Christ. Higher than  *his
 this resurrection he was powerfully revealed to be-the          Abba Father no mortal. can nor needs to rise. It is
  Son  ,of  IGod.  IGod's. rich,  etertial and abiding mercy the ultima of our created purpose as image-bearers,
 which "endureth forever" was manifested in these                and of our re-creation in Christ. Thus we- now stand
 last days in order th&t our faith and hope might be in          on this earth, it is true, but we have heaven's song up-
  God.  ,Compare verses 20, 21.                                  on our lips!
           What a Savior!                                            The third element, that calls for attention, is the
           I$ was .only mercy, riches 6f mercy !                 very evident peclagogikal  purpose of tihe Holy Spirit in
           And what is more, and this enhances the greatness     Peter, by placing this exalted truth of the new state
 of the Savior : it was  sov,ereign  mercy! They who             and condition of the churches so beautifully on the
 w&e not a people are now the people of God, and they- foreground.


                  44                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .
                                                -
                        Let-it not be forgotten that Peter is-writing to the
                  churches in this world as they are in the midst of the
                  battle of faith and hope in God overagainst the. triad               ~.:; .:T@E DAY OF SHADOWS
                  of hostile-forces: the flesh, the world and Satan. Con-
           tinual reference is made in  .this epistle to these foes
                  of `the churches. <One has ,but ha&y to peruse the                                      T amar  DefAd
                  paragraphs of this letter to be-assured of this fact.
                  Compare such passages as- 1:13-18; 2 :ll-24; 5 :6-11.                   "The sword shall not depart from thy house", the
                  This church in the world must be able, to sing -the                  prophet had said in announcing to David how  the
                  Lord's song in this battle. The Holy Nation, a Royal Loi-d was to afflict him for his sins. But the prophecy
                  Priesthood must brow the trumpet ,of victory in the would have to clarify itself-and that it  would-
                  fray. Shall she do this theri she must be under the                  in the process of its fulfillment. For it does not enter
                  wise pedagogy `of the Captain of the Hosts-of Israel. .into details. The questions that it raises it leaves`un-
                  She must see her own high estate before God. That                    an?wered. But its essential idea is plain. Whereas
           . -and that only gibes courage so that she need not be                      David had availed himself of war to kill Uriah, war
                  afraid.                                                              would not cease frdm his own house.
                        Hence, the churches must have the loins *of their                 The commencement of .the fulfillment of the pro-
            . mind girt up and be sober!                                               phecy, for which David had not long to.wait, was the.
                        Such sobriety is : that we always see our "status -rape of. Tamar by Amnon,  David's eldest son, &hose
                  quo" before the Lord.                                                `mother  was the' Jezreelitess Ahinoam (III :2), a wo-
             y          All the admonitions of God to His people are an; man of comnion extraction. Tamar, a fair virgin, was
                  chored in this rock-bottom truth. Let no one tamper                  the sister of Absalom, another son of David. Their
                  with the foundations, for then. what can the righteous               mother was Mkacah, daughter of Talmai king of JGes-
                  do'? Ail the admonitions in this letter are "precepts                hur, whom David had married after his ascension to
                  of ;the Gospel". This means that the church is not ad- ithe  -throlie  a t   Hebron-  (II10:3).                   _
            monished to become what.. she is not, but she is ad-                          Amnon loved Tamar. This was likely to happen
                  monished to manifest in life and walk, in faith and                  with a son: and a daughter of the same father .but of
                  hope`whnt she is lin the Lo~cl!                                      different mothers as was here the case, David being
                        #Only thus can we understand the careful pedagogy              a polygamist. The passion of Amnon's lust was con-
                  of this epistle itself.                                              suming. And it could not be gratified, because Tamar
            -.          The point of departure is, not somewhere'oLitside  of          was a virgin and it seemed to hiin difficult if not im-
                  the church to the church. Nay, it is a standing in                   possible to do anything to her, that is, her chaste se-
                                                                                 -.
                  the church,  sillging the song of the redeemed. Re-                  clusion- in the compartment of' her mother or other
                  demption is a fact. That is the point of. deparkre!                  difficulties frustrated any plan that he could devise.
                        It is for that-reason what we also read in this verse          The result was that he became sick. And he was not
                  under consideration that we h&e been begotten, or                    feigning.
                  rather we read "the `One  having  b,egotten us". The                    `Amnon had an uncle on his f&her's side, ap un-
           _  apostle employs the aorist  articular  participle. The                   principled and subtle man, whose name was Jonadab. '
            Y aorist tense  mlderscores  the `truth of the  fachess.                   The two were friends. Not a morning past withodt
                  When  Petex wishes to underscore this truth in  owr                  their seeing each other But Jon&dab's in&ence on
                  experience up to the present moment  he employs the                  his nephew was thoroughly bad. He  f&d the fire of
                  perfect participle as in --Gerse 23. This is worthy of               his vile passion, by showing him how to attain his end
                  being observed and also that we abide by it. But here by the employment of deceit and violence.
                  the fact is underscoyed that the Church is begotten!                    Amnon `became "thin". Tha!t could justly be re-
                                                                                       garded as strange especially in a "king:s son" in whose
                        Yes,-this factness  of what WC as believing Church             case there should be no reason for it.
                  have become in Christ Jesus is placed on the fore-                                                             He looked more
                                                                                       haggard in the morning after- nights in-which he had
                  ground. .                                                            not slept .because of the torture of his passion. "Why
                        It is ,the grace wherein we stnn!d and rejoice in the          art thou, being the king's son, lean from morning to
                  hope of the glory of God!                                            morning? Wilt thou not tell me?" He did tell. He
                        Let us begin thus in His Name.                                 said simply, "I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sis-
      e                 Then only shall we keep the. heritage that is ours;            ter." He needed to say nothing more. Jonadab un-
              then we shall confesa'that  the lines have fallen unto us                derstood.    A solution presented itself to his crafty
                  in pleasant places.                                                  mind. Amnon must use his wretched appearance to
                                                              Geo. Lubbers             feign critical illness. He must lie down on his- bed,

`.


                                         T H E   ST.ANDARD  B E A R E R                                                45

  and when his father was come `to see him, he must            the maiden whom he had humbled, and whom he now
  petition him to send Tamar that she might nourish him        hate,d with an intensity that excelled the unholy ardour
  back to health with he'r cakes to ,be made in his very       of the- carnal love wherewith he had loved her. And
  sight by no other hands but hers. Perhaps no one pos- his ,wrath knew no pity nor bounds. He ordered her
  sessed her skill for baking and cooking. D.avid was          to take herself out of his sight instantly. But thus
  an indulgent father and therefore it was `taken for          dismissing her he was only adding insult to injury.
  granted that he would not refuse such a request of a She pleaded with him. But he would not listen and
  sick son. `And Amnon would see to it that there would        had her put out of his house forcibly and the door
  be none to deliver her out of his hand should it prove       bolted after her.
  necessary for him to take recourse to violence.                 Such is the working of sexual desire, love, of the'
      The  whole account  suggest.s that  "probabJy each       wicked, when once it has ;been  gratified or if disap-
  wife with her  children dwelt in a separate part of          pointed or frustrated. It is a monstrous thing, is
  the royal palace" (Keil)`, and from verses 7 and 20          this love, horrible and vile.  4Coriscience  it has not.
  it appears that  the grown  sqns each had his own            And it is wholly without, niercy. It is cruel as  `the
  h o u s e .                                                  grave.
      All &me to pass as had been anticipated. Tamar              In putting `her out the servant had simply obeyed
  addressed herself to her -task with a will. Taking the voice of his master without asking questions. And
' dough, she kneeded  it and made cakes in his sight and       he knew who she was. For her long-sleeveh upper
  baked them. As appears from ver. 10 she  set the             garment distinguished her as one of the virgin daugh-
  food, when baked, before him in an adjoining room.           ters of  the king.    For with such  rob& were these
  Her maidenly reserve prevented her from bringing it          daughters apparelled. But he was only a servant. His
  to him in-his--bed-chamber. But he refused to go and         was only to obey. Besides, being ignorant of what had
  eat and thus pretended that he was too sick to leave         taken place, he may have concluded that ,she had done
  his bed. Then he ordered all persons from his room.          somtithing  so s'hameful as ;to merit the treatment.
  And they went out every man from him as perhaps                 Amnon's way with Tamar perplexes. Did he not
  concluding that he was too weak to endure their pre-         fear, as realizing that he was committing a capital
  sence, Then he requested her to bring the meat into          crime, the judgment of the king? Truly, his deed
  the chamber that be might receive it out of her hand.        called for the extreme penalty of death. Why had
  "And she took the cakes which she had made, and              not the consideration of this deterred him? First, it
  brdught  ithem into the chamber to  Amnon her bro-           is plain that he ,was a wicked man. Second, his con-
  ther."                                                       duct doubtless was mightily effected by  .the example
      Tamar's reaction reveds that she was a chaste and        set him by his own father. By his gross sinning Da-
  perhaps a God-fearing young woman.  SQe rejected             vid had introduced into his family a dissolute spirit
 this wicked proposal. She told him that such thing?           `that had now begun to bear fruit.
  were not done in Israel. I There was a law against it.          As for ,Tamar, she did not bewail the calamity that
  And it called for the death of the  offenders   (Lev.        had befallen her in silence in the seclusion of her own
  20 :1'7). Israel was a people that must sanctify itself      house in order  to shield Amnon. On the contrary, she
  to the Lord Let him then not ,do this folly.                 put ashes on her head, and rent her garment, and
      Next she pleads with him with regard to her own          folded her hands upon her head, and went crying on
  honor.         Whither shall she cause her  shame to go?     her way: She met Absalom her full brother. Seeing
  Her shame will be irreparable. IShe bids him to think her in tears and surprised by her wretched appeay-
  of his own honor. He will be as one sf the fools in          ante, he surmized that she had bee% outraged. He
 `Israel. In order more certainly to cause him'to fore-        suspected Amnon. Doubtless it had b&en told him that
  bear she presses him ,to ask her in marriage of the          she had gone to Amnon'.s  house and for what purpose.
  kin,g, who would not withhold her from  ,him. But            And not perhaps being any too well disposed toward
  this would be a violation of the law in -Israel, Lev.        him to begin with, his thoughts turned to this brother
  18 :9; 20 :17 ;, Deut. 27 :22. It need not be supposed       of his. And so he put to her the question- whether
  that she was ignorant of the law.- But this she said         Amnon had been with her. It was a polite way of
  wishing to repress his advances.                             asking whether he had defiled her person. Learning
 i' ,On the satisfaction of his lust she lost all appeal       from her the truth, his anger burned and he must have
  for him. He had been as a man intoxicated. But he            resolved right then and there to avenge the crime.
  had come to himself and his mind had cleared. He saw         But to avoid further embarrasing her he did not ask
  himself now `a fool and felt like one. But in his im- for details. Instead he framed a-reply that was cal-
  penitetice  h.e accused not himbelf but was furious with.    culated to comfort her and wipe away her tears, Be


 46                                       THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 said, "But hold thy peace, my sister," tliat is, cease
 from thy weeping. Dry thy tear& wash thy face and                    LO'NTR-IB.UTIONi
 anoint thy head. "He is thy brother. Regard %ot this
 thing,"-that is, take it not so to heart.                    Deai  Edito?  -of  The Standard Bearer  :-
       However poor the Comfort, it was sincere. He
 deeply sympathised with her in his heart. For he did            If room permits, then-please publish the following
 ,not fail in his duty tbward her, but took her into his      in  The  Stamlad Bearer,  thanking you in advance.
 own house, where she abode a desolate woman and                         BIASED AND SIDETRACKED
 where none could ply her .with questions.                      In re :- Rev. de Jong's article, as an answer to
       Hearing all these things, David was very wrath.        Mrs. F. Harbin (see Concordia  of June 5, p: ?, -as also
 But he did not inflict on Amnon the penalty of death         oft Sept. 25, p. 7) for said articles to which I am re-
 as he should have done (Ley. 20 :17). Doubtless he           ferring. H.v.P.) . In. all fairness to Mrs. Harbin, and
 was held back by the disturbing consideration that           particdarly  so to the  Do&rimes  of  our Prot. Ref. Chur-
 "all these things" were crimes ifi the like of which he,     ches,  then I feel that this Article of Rev. de Jong
 himself, had once fallen, and therefore crimes `that         (Concordia,  Sept. 25, p. 7) may not b.e passed by with-
 were being made to reassert themselves now in the            out due correction. From what Mrs. Harbin has writ-
 life of his sons. Besides, the Lord had not slain Da-        ten, and the way Rev. de .Jong answers,  her, I. can not
 vid. Might he, David, then not have mercy on Amnon?          accept. that the .Reverend did not understand what she
 These doubtless were his reasdnings. For he was              was referring toi' In the June issue of Conco&a,  Mrs.
 passionately &ached to his children. But his weak-           Harbin wafited to know: `Who is Reformed, Dr. Hol-
 ness led to the revolt of -Abs%lom. It only shows how        werda, or the Prot. Ref. Churches'. That tias a point-
 that the Lord brings to pass all that He has spoken -ed question, and also properly .placed, and to the pro-
 also through the sinful lusts and weaknesses of man.         per person, viz., Rev. de Jong, who had written that
 So do all things serve His counsel. And His people           `Dr. Holwerda was thoroughly Reformed' ; but. since
 are saved. It shows ,that all things; including the sins     Dr. Holwerda  didn't agree with the doctrines express-
 of the saved ones, work together for good-the good           ed by our Synod in re:- The Declaration, Mrs. Harbin
 of them that love `God.                                      wanted to know how she was to harmonize this dis-
       As for Absa-lom, he spake  unfo Amnon neither good     crepancy, for both cannot be wrong and right at one
 nor bad. He talked not with him at all, that is, in his      and the same time ! `Here the Reverend very carefully
 unavoidable contacts with Amnon he treated him with          evades the entire question (which rio doubt put him on
cold politeness. For he hated him.                            the spot. H.v.P.) and advises Mrs. Harbin that if she
                                              G. M. Ophoff needs to know whether she is Reformed, that then pos-
                                                              sibly her Pastor will be able to diagnose her case and
                                                              give her  sound advice. I must  state:  Isn't  ~that ad-
                        -:-:-                                 roit ? (a clever jump to make in an emergency). _ Tru-
                                                              ly a jump from a hot-spot position! But in Sept. 25
                                                              Cotico&a,, the R&v. finds himself in still hotter fire,
                                                              and attempts to avail himself of a similar `technique,
                                                              and now he seems to be at a loss where to jump. Well,
           How sweet.,  how heav'nly is the sight,            if I read correstiy,  then the orily thing for him to do
             When those who love the Lord,                    is tto show up Mrs. Harbin's stupidity ( ?) to the read-
           In one a&her's peace delight,                      ing.. public ; and to steei the `truths qf facts' into a
             And so fulfill his word!                         biased channel, thinking thereby to wash his hands in
                                                              innocency,  and shove Mrs. Harbin out on a limb as a
           Love is the golden chain that binds                `piece of mockery for all to behold. A dirty wash, in-
             The happy souls above ;                          deed !- But also very detrimental. to the Reformed Doc-
           And he's an heir of heav'n, that finds             trine and D.K.10.;  which Mrs. Harbin attempted to de-
                                                              fend in her questions ; but which the Rev. not only sid-'
             His bosom glow with love.                        tracked, but very' biasedly .attempted  to steer into the
                                                              chasm of oblivion.     In all the brotherly love and
           Let love in one delightful stream,                 spirit that I can possibly muster, not to write as the
             Thru ev'ry bosom flow;                           Reverend did; I must say that .I find such writing .out
        _ And union sweet and dear esteem,                    -and-out pathetic. It is to weep' over ! For : Rev. de
             In  ev'ry  actiop   glow.            .' .  _     Jong very well knows. tihet MEL Harbia is referring


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.RER                                          - 47
                            - - - - -                                                         - _ :
 to;  ancl in the ,ydadey  sense of the term then he and         such .tactics, can you?. But, what .about those public
  all the ' ministers :of our denomination are the min-          confessions? for those are very relevant;
  isters  of our churches . . . And  that is a  very.&-             Yours for the Honor and Glory of the King of
  portant   point  toe. Yes,  ,they are ministering-pastors - t h e   C h u r c h :
  of -local congregations in the narrow sense. The. rea-                                        H. A. Van Putten
  ders may ask: What is the difference, or what dif-                                            .Hollancl, Michigan
 ference does that make ? The answ.er is : very much !
  for Revs. Kok and de Jong are continuing under a                                          &J.                               .'
  smoke of suspicion, of -having denied the faith of our
  doctrine---Churches  ; and. of having brought shame up-              DOCTRINAL IN -THE WRONG SENSE
  on the heads of our able Professors Revs. H.H. and                I hesitate to publicly enter the arguments that
  G.M>O.,  as if they- just talked a bit now and then, but       have been carried on for some time in our Church
  what they said or taught had little or nothing .to do          papers, however, since we owe everything that we as
  with the doctrine of our churches. That is the im- Protestant Reformed Churches have received by ,God's
  pression we must of neccessity  gather from. Dr. Hol-          grace to our esteemed leaders, Rev. H.  * Hoeksema           -
  werda's letter which he sent to Canada a -few years            and .Rev. ,G. M. Ophoff,- it hurts me to see their writ-
  ago. Now Rev; de Jong finds Dr. .Holwerda  so thorough-        ings quoted time and again in support of the condi-
  ly Reformed.>. But `that doesn't make sense for Mrs.           tional theoiogy coming out of the Netherlands from
  Harbin, simply, because Rev;,Kok  has confessed that lthe Liberated Churches. Without regard to good logic,
  he  (Rev. Kok) is  not  guilty  of,  the- charges (or con-     whole paragraphs. of their writings are dug up, quoted
  tent`s) of said Holwerda's letter. Thus she has more           and printed, with the idea of making the public believe
  discrepancies which do not harmonize. Kok, Holwerda,           that they have taught a conditional theology in the
 the  !Synod of our Churches are all-Reformed  (?).              past. And regardless of `the circumstances or back-
  Kok doesn't agree with Holwerda; Holwerda doesn't              ground under which such arfticles  were written, they
  agree with the Synod's decision on the `Declaration of         are torn out of their historical settings and quoted as
  Principles'. But de Jong is boasting .about Dr. Hol-           reading upon the views originating in the Nether-
  werda being thoroughly Reformed. Very strange in-              lands, in the `Liberated Churches. This I consider
  deed ! But: by virtue of the fact that Revs. .Kok and          unfair,  Andy unappreciative of the Reformed Doctrine
  and de Jong, are ministers of our churches, they ow,e          so faithfully defended by our leaders of the Protestant
  a .pa@ic confession, or satisfactory explanation to us         Reformed Churches. May God give them Grace to
  nS chwches, because they may not go on and on with continue to strive for the further development of this
 ,chat smoke-screen of: suspicion hanging over their             glorious truth. And may others stand by their side,               ~
  heads, and preach the. gospel and act as if they clo not       and help them, that in the waning years of their life,
  owe the churches anything at  aW, to clear themselves          they be not overburdened.
  :( and especially t&e ofice) of being guilty of -denying          Therefore I publicly want to rise to the defense
  the faith of our churches, as'the letter sets forth. A         of our Esteemed Professors, when this again took
  minister certainly must be free from all blame.` The           place in the September 11th issue of C*oncorclia over
  `Formula of Subscription' which can be found  ,on the titled caption, "Doctrinal, in the Wrong Sense".
  pp. 61-62 of our D.K.O., last paragraph reads quite               In this article the author Rev. Kok quotes at great-
  differently, I'm sure. Therefore : it is very important length from an article written by Rev. ,Ophoff as found
  to know and remember, that a minister is not only-ac-          in  The  Standad Bearer,  Vol. 12, pp. 415, 416. Pro-
  countable to the local Consistory where under he has           fessor -0phoff wrote a beautiful article in that Stan-
  his pastorate and resides, but also to all the churches        dared, Bearer under the subject, "The Preaching of the
  (`of'), which means : with which he is affiliated as-          Gospel the Keys of the Kingdom". I would suggest to
  sociated or connected; Thus, it is `not so irrelevant          all our Ministers that they reread this article, for the
  and. therefore very pertinent what meaning we as- Professor sets forth an important precept. The Pro-
  cribe to the truth at hand, especially when it concerns `fessor here tells the Ministers how they must preach.
  keeping our doctrines and churches free from schism            How in their preaching they must apply God's Word
  and false doctrines, or even tendencies to-departthere-        to the hearts of the hearers. -And the Professor func-
from  `to which Mrs.  Ha&in was  referring,  but  whii%          tioning in his ordained office as Instructor, it be-  -
                                                                 hooves all the Ministers to take note and to listen. (God
R~ev. de Jong  .di&ortingly hurls back into Mrs.  Ha&in's        requires this from every Minister in. our Denomina-
 face, to put her to shame.                                      tion, and not only to listen but also to~follow the good
     -All I wish to add is : I` can not see how God can bless    advice given them by the Professor.-


-A                  -~-~~--~  -__.-~.___~~   `
                                                                  -_-.           ,--
            48.             `.                -.           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B'EAR.ER                                 .~
                                                    -_.----                                                    --z                              .._
              I am not a Minister, but after- careful study -i be-                           l/ if we believe, (Note, this stateinent is
           lieve that I am. honestly quoting the Professor, and                                     a fact since salvation. is .objectively  full
           show the key contilusions- which Rev. Ophoff is he?e                                    filled in. Christ, and promised to the
           teaching  ,the Ministers, in the following outline  5s                                   seed of the promise, see I'& II above,
           taken from his work which appears in  The  b'tandu,rd                                   Notation my own.)
      Bear& many years ago on. June 15, 1936, volume and                                     2/ in that believing we belbng to that peo-
           page as quoted, above.`from  Rev. Kok's  article. -                               p l e   f o r whose- sins Christ atoned.
              I. What is the gospel?                  -                                             `(Note, subjectively, the seed-of the pro-
                     God's promise bf s8lv?tion,  made by Hi;n to the                              ise possess Clirist in all  :its  fulln$ss,
                     seed of the promise.
      .                                                                                            and become conscious of it. by the
             11.. This gospel must be preached, as to  its contents.                               preaching of the Gospel, Notation my
                    1. As objectively" fulfilled in Chr$t as'to His per-                           own.)
                       son, natures,` of&es.-  and works.                               5. Kindly note the argument that the Professor
                    2. Subjectively, this Church as possessed by His                      makes above.
      IL               People in all the fulness that dwells in Him                       The office of Minister in declaring the gos-
                       bodily.                                                            pel, the Word of ,God, to you and to me, is,
            1I.I. This gospel must be preached, as to its elements.                       a/ That t.he Believer, the individual Child of
                                                                                             <God  may make his calling and election sure,
               1. -Present the contents to all men indiscrimin-                              may know that he belongs to that blessed
                       ately.                                                                people-for whose sins Christ atoned, by the
                    2. Describe and explain the -contents from the                           fact, that he believes, that he is bonded to
                       Scripture.                                                            %hrist- tliru the instrument of faith.
                    ,i. This gospel,, the, Word, `must be applied or ad-                  b/ .That the unbeliever. may know, that he
                       ministered to the-flock, to you and to me.                            staizds exposed to the wrath of God and e-
                       a/ Applying the gospel is an action of deliver-                     ternal condemnation; as long as he. is  un-
                           ing the promise; the Word of IGod direct-                       converted. .                 -
                        ly to the flock, to  you' and to me. Quotes
                          an example from L.ord's Day 31:                           6. The Professor continues his  .ar&ument.- If
                           l/ According to the command of Christ,                         any of the elements III,  1,2; 3, above. are
                                   it is declared and publicly testified to               lacking, the Word is not being properly
                                   all believers, that whenever th.ey receive       pr,eached by the Ministers. If this last ele-
                                   the promise of  ,the gospel by a true                  ment (see no. 3 above) is lacking the sermon
                                   faith, -all their sins are yeally forgiven              will show no- contact with the flock. And of
                                   them of God, for the sake of Christ's                 ~- such a sermon, (that has no contact with the
                                   merits.                                         -      `flock) it must be said'that is "Doctrinal in
                           2.;'  On  the contrary when it is declared                      the wrong sense."
                                   and testified to all unbelievers and such      We hope to continue this in the next issue.
                                   as do not sincerely repent that they                                                             J. H. Kortering
                                 -stand expssed to the wrath of `God, and
                                   eternal condemnation as long as they                                  - . - A . - - : -
                                   and unconverted.
                      b,' By whom must this  gospel this Word be
                           administered to the flock.
      :                    l/ .Tk;e Apostles td the Churched in the Ho-.                 Descend from .heav'n, immortal. Dove,
                                   l y   S c r i p t u r e s .      \                    Stoop down and take us on thy wings ;
                           2/ By the 0ffice;of Ministers of the goi- _ .                 And mount and bear us far above
                                   pel ,in our time.                                     ,The reach of these inferior things.
                                                                                              :
                    4. Task of the Minister of the gospel.
                       a/ Not  merkly in  declariilg  that' God saves                    When shall the day, -dear Lord, appear,
                           His People.                                                   That I shall mount, to'dwell above,
                       b/  But also in  declariizg that He saves you                     And &and, and born,,, and -tiorship there,
                           and me.                                       .               And view thy face, and sing, and love?
                                                           .'


